ITVFLUENCE 


?HT£1CAL  CAUSES 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 


r 


^ 


BV  4915  .J62  1846 
Jones,  Joseph  H.  1797-1868 
The  influence  of  physical 
causes  on  religious 


^-i^t-^^ 


# 


THE 


INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 


BY  JOSEPH  H>JONES, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  SIXTH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA. 


Non  ignara  mali  miseris  succurrerc  disco. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

WILLIAM  S.  MARTIEN,  No.  37  SOUTH  SEVENTH  STREET. 

New  York  : — No.  23  Centre  Street. 

1846. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year 
1845,  by  Joseph  H.  Jones,  in  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of 
the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsyl- 


XC±L 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Page 
Connexion  between  the  Material  and  Spiritual  parts, 

as  recognized  in  the  Scripture,  as  demonstrated  by 

Science,  and  as  illustrated  in  Christian  Experience,     13 


CHAPTER  II. 

Practical  uses  of  an  acquaintance  with  this  subject 
to  Professors  of  Religion,  and  especially  to  its 
Teachers,  for  Doctrine,  Charity,  Reproof,  Correc- 
tion of  serious  Errors,  Consolation, 50 


CHAPTER  III. 

Counsels  to  the  Troubled  and  Desponding; — Ascer- 
tain the  cause  of  their  disquietude  ; — Obtain  judi- 


CONTENTS. 

Page 
cious  Medical  Advice,  suitable  Society,  Temper- 
ate habits,  Occupation,  Divine  Aid, 77 


APPENDIX. 

1.  A  sample  of  cases  of  manifest  disorder  of  the  re- 
ligious views,  and  great  mental  distress,  which  are 
usually  treated  with  much  difficulty, 114 

2.  The  efficacy  of  judicious  medical  treatment,  as 
shown  in  the  case  of  a  lady, 118 

3.  The  effect  of  disease  in  misguiding  the  conscience,  120 

4.  A  case  exposing  the  error  of  hastily  ascribing  reli- 
gious melancholy  to  the  direct  influence  of  religion,  122 

5.  Importance  of  watchfulness  against  a  constitu- 
tional tendency  to  melancholy, 124 

6.  The  mistake  of  imputing  to  satanic  agency,  what 

is  dependent  on  bodily  disease, 1 29 

7.  Temperaments,  or  idiosyncrasies, 126 

8.  Writers  recommended, 131 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 


The  publishing  of  so  small  and  imperfect 
a  book  on  a  subject  of  so  great  importance, 
needs  to  be  explained  to  those  who  are  not 
aware  of  its  history,  nor  of  the  writer's  mo- 
tive. It  is  the  substance  of  three  discourses, 
somewhat  enlarged  and  modified  since  they 
were  delivered,  which  were  designed  for  the 
benefit  of  a  particular  class  of  hearers,  more 
numerous  than  is  generally  supposed,  and 
whose  case  is  too  often  overlooked.  As  the 
preacher  had  anticipated,  while  the  subject 
Avas  scarcely  intelligible  to  some,  and  as  un- 
suited  to  their  taste  and  condition  as  a  dis- 
quisition on  colours  to  the  blind,  it  was  heard 
with  the  liveliest  interest  by  others,  whose 
wishes  and  welfare  have  been  mainly  con- 
sulted in  making  it  public.  The  writer 
makes  no  pretensions  to  originality  or  deep 


10  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

thinking,  nor  to  such  an  acquaintance  with 
psychology,  or  physical  science,  as  a  tho- 
rough and  enlightened  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject requires.  He  is  sensible  that  it  is  still  as 
fully  open  to  be  handl'ed  by  a  well  furnished 
and  competent  pen,  as  it  was  before  the 
present  thoughts  were  pubhshed.  But  in 
the  absence  of  what  is  desirable,  those  who 
are  interested  may  derive  whatever  advan- 
tage they  can  from  the  sources  that  are  acces- 
sible. 

So  far  as  the  thoughts  of  others  have  been 
approved,  and  were  suited  to  the  purpose  of 
the  writer,  they  have  been  adopted,  often  in 
their  own  language,  and  are  here  acknow- 
ledged in  general,  to  supersede  tlie  necessity 
of  multiplied  marginal  references  and  marks 
of  quotation.  The  authors  of  certain  well 
written  papers  on  subjects  kindred  to  this,  in 
the  Literary  and  Theological  Review,  the 
Biblical  Repertory,  and  Christian  Spectator, 
will  perceive  our  obligations  to  them.  Doc- 
tors George  and  John  Cheyne,  Combe,  James, 
Johnson,  Burrowes,  Rush,  Brigham,  and  Es- 
quirol;  Rev.  Br.  Alexander,  Richard  Baxter, 
and  some  others,  have  been  consulted ;  and 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE.  11 

it  is  but  candid  to  confess  that  to  the  glean- 
ings from  them,  the  book  will  be  indebted  for 
no  small  proportion  of  the  interest  that  it  may- 
chance  to  awaken.  Not  unfrequently,  how- 
ever, our  own  conceptions  have  been  pre- 
sented in  the  language  of  another,  for  the 
sake  of  procuring  more  respect  to  the  senti- 
ments, by  giving  them  higher  authority. 
Should  the  book  be  blessed  to  the  relieving 
of  a  single  case  of  spiritual  despondency,  it 
will  so  far  subserve  the  purpose  for  which 
the  writer  has  yielded,  with  no  little  hesita- 
tion, to  the  request  that  the  work  should  be 
given  to  the  press. 


INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 


ON 


KELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CONNEXION   BETWEEN   THE   MATERIAL  AND    SPIRITUAL 
PARTS   IN   MAN. 

How  poor,  how  rich,  how  abject,  how  august. 
How  complicate,  how  wonderful  is  man ! — Young. 

"  I  WILL  praise  Thee,"  says  David,  "  for  I  am 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  made."  How  far 
the  Psalmist  understood  the  full  import  of  his 
words,  or  was  acquainted  with  the  wonder- 
ful mechanism  of  man  to  which  he  alludes, 
we  do  not  presume  to  know.  It  is  enough 
to  say,  that  the  terms  which  he  uses,  are  most 
appropriate  and  descriptive,  as  has  been  abun- 
dantly proved  by  the  researches  of  physiolo- 
gy. But  curious  and  fearful  as  is  the  struc- 
ture of  the  material  part,  there  is  displayed 
2 


14  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

far  more  of  the  wisdom  and  greatness  of  God 
in  the  creation  and  endowments  of  the  soul; 
and  although  we  are  accustomed  to  speak 
familiarly  of  both,  as  if  they  were  well  under- 
stood, yet  there  is  scarcely  a  term  which  we 
employ  which  is  not  rather  a  symbol  of  what 
we  do  not  know,  than  an  exponent  of  v/hat 
we  do.  The  mystery  of  the  Trinity  is  not 
more  inexplicable,  than  is  the  connexion 
that  subsists  between  the  body  and  the  soul 
of  man.  The  most  that  we  know  of  either,  is 
derived  from  the  results  which  flow  from 
such  an  union.  As  we  infer  the  being  and 
cooperation  of  the  three  persons  in  the  God- 
head, from  the  nature  and  the  benefits  of  re- 
demption, by  which  this  triune  existence  is 
implied,  so  we  become  assured  that  we  have 
a  spirit  as  well  as  a  body,  from  their  acts  or 
motions,  which  we  feel.  We  know  nothing 
of  the  substance  of  which  either  is  composed, 
nor  of  the  mode  in  which  the  two  are  linked 
together.  The  attempts  of  science  to  reach 
and  explain  these  ultimate  facts,  have  not 
amounted  to  even  an  approximation.  What- 
ever has  been  written  concerning  the  locality 
of  the  soul,  the  time  of  its  entrance  into  the 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  15 

body,  the  mode  by  which  it  acts  upon  or  gov- 
erns it,  and  the  avenue  through  which  it  es- 
capes at  death,  is  but  little  more  than  specula- 
tion and  conjecture.  Says  Dr.  Abercrombie, 
"  we  talk  about  matter,  and  we  talk  about 
mind;  we  speculate  concerning  materiality 
and  immateriality,  until  we  argue  ourselves 
into  a  kind  of  belief  that  we  understand  some- 
thing of  the  subject.  The  truth  is,  that  we 
understand  nothing.^'  We  really  know  but 
little  more  than  a  few  facts  in  relation  to 
both,  which  are  discoverable  by  their  respec- 
tive qualities  and  attributes;  such  as  that  the 
two  are  closely  united;  that  what  is  called 
the  nervous  system  is  the  medium  of  com- 
munication between  them;  so  that  they  exert 
a  strong  reciprocal  influence  upon  each  other; 
that  when  the  one  is  afliicted,  it  always  has 
the  sympathy  of  the  other.  They,  there- 
fore, have  been  employed  more  wisely,  who, 
leaving  the  former  as  among  the  inscrutable 
things  of  God,  have  endeavoured  to  make  a 
practical  improvement  of  the  latter.  It  is  a 
subject  that  so  intimately  blends  with  all 
that  conduces  to  the  enjoyment  and  useful- 
ness of  life,  as  well  as  its  continuance,  that  it 


16  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

is  of  the  highest  importance  for  all  to  under- 
stand it,  and  to  none  is  such  knowledge 
more  needful  than  to  the  official  teachers  of 
religion. 

It  is  proposed  at  this  time,  to  offer  a  few 
thoughts  on  this  interesting  topic,  more  with 
a  view  to  awaken  the  attention,  and  invite 
the  pen  of  others,  than  to  furnish  all  that  is 
needed.  Indeed,  such  a  work  as  the  exi- 
gency of  the  church  has  long  demanded,  is 
not  likely  to  be  accomplished  by  "any  one 
who  is  not  furnished  with  a  suitable  educa- 
tion, theological  and  medical,  profoundly  and 
experimentally  acquainted  with  the  Scrip- 
tures, fond  of  research,  and  gifted  with  good 
powers  of  generalization  and  induction." 

For  those  who  wish  to  pursue  the  subject 
in  its  pathological  bearings,  or  as  one  of  the 
departments  of  physiology,  there  are  nu- 
merous medical  treatises,  both  domestic  and 
foreign,  which  are  easily  accessible.  What 
we  have  to  offer  in  the  following  chapters,  is 
little  more  than  the  result  of  some  observa- 
tion, and  the  few  years'  experience  of  a 
pastor.  It  is  intended  to  furnish,  in  a  porta- 
ble form  and  size,  a  tract  for  the  benefit  of 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  17 

Christians  of  an  unequal  and  fluctuating  ex- 
perience, produced  by  physical  causes,  though 
not  suspected  perhaps  by  themselves,  nor 
their  spiritual  advisers. 

I.  It  has  already  been  said,  that  much  that 
pertains  to  the  nature  of  the  connexion  be- 
tween the  flesh  and  the  spirit  is  a  mystery 
which  science  has  tried  in  vain  to  explore. 
It  has  proceeded  so  far  as  to  discover  in  the 
human  fabric,  certain  delicate  white  threads, 
leading  from  the  brain  and  spinal  marrow  to 
every  part  of  the  body.  It  has  also  been  ascer- 
tained, that  by  means  of  these  nerves,  (as  they 
are  called  from  the  Latin  term  nervus,  a.  string) 
sensations  are  conveyed  from  each  of  the  or- 
gans of  sense  to  the  brain;  moreover,  that 
these  are  the  channels  of  communication  be- 
tween the  mind  and  the  body,  as  is  proved  by 
the  well  known  fact,  that  if  one  of  the  nerves 
of  the  arm  or  leg  be  sundered,  all  power  of 
that  limb  is  lost;  if  another  be  cut,  sensation 
is  no  longer  transmitted  through  the  arm  to 
the  mind.  But  how  the  volitions  or  concep- 
tions of  the  mind  are  conveyed  on  these  deli- 
cate material  conductors,  whether  by  vibra- 


IS  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

tion,  by  a  nervous  fluid,  or  by  neither,  or 
what  is  their  specific  substance  or  construc- 
tion, by  which  they  are  made  not  only  ve- 
hicles of  thought,  but  instruments  of  exquisite 
pleasure  or  pain,  are  among  the  questions 
that  have  been  a  constant  source  of  hypothesis 
in  past  ages,  but  which  neither  reason  nor  rev- 
elation has  answered.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
neither  our  happiness  nor  our  usefulness 
would  be  increased  by  a  knowledge  of  the 
essence  of  mind  and  matter,  and  that  enough 
is  known  from  their  various  phenomena  to 
answer  every  practical  purpose.  With  that 
class  of  them  which  we  are  about  to  con- 
sider, the  world  of  course  have  been  more  or 
less  familiar  ever  since  the  fall  subjected  man 
to  disease,  and  made  the  earthly  part  a  clog, 
while  it  gave  it  such  ascendency  over  the 
heavenly.  But  in  regard  to  those  morbid 
results  of  this  connexion,  which  are  techni- 
cally called  "nervous,'^  it  has  been  frequently 
said,  that,  to  a  great  extent,  they  are  a  penalty 
for  an  abuse  of  the  multiplied  blessings  of 
civilized  life.  Among  savage  tribes,  such 
affections  are  scarcely  known,  and  they  are 
very  rare  among  those  whose  pursuits  are  ac- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  19 

tive,  and  connected  with  habitual  exposure. 
Hence  it  is  easily  understood  why  medi- 
cine was  no  more  diligently  cultivated  among 
the  ancients,  and  how  it  happened  that  the 
first  physician  of  eminence,  who  has  been 
called  the  "father  of  medicine,"  should 
have  lived  within  less  than  five  hundred 
years  before  Christ.  In  the  early  ages  of  the 
world,  there  was  comparatively  little  occa- 
sion for  a  profession  that  is  now  so  highly 
honoured,  and  which  is  so  indispensable  to 
the  health  and  happiness  of  society.  The 
simplicity  of  manners  which  prevailed,  plain- 
ness of  diet,  temperance  and  activity  in  rural 
occupations,  were  productive  of  a  degree 
of  health  and  vigour  which  are  hardly  known 
at  present.  How  far  the  great  age  of  man, 
until  shortened  by  a  divine  decree,  was 
the  result  of  natural  causes,  we  do  not  pre- 
sume to  say;  but  the  progress  of  the  healing 
art  has  marked,  with  a  good  degree  of  accu- 
racy, in  successive  ages,  the  increase  of  luxury 
and  excessive  sensual  indulgence. 

"  Had  it  not  been,"  says  Dr.  Cheyne,  "for 
the  lewdness,  luxury,  and  intemperate  grati- 
fication of  the  passions  and  appetites  which 


20  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

first  ruined  and  spoiled  the  constitution  of 
the  fathers,  whereby  they  could  communicate 
only  a  diseased,  crazy,  and  untuneable  car- 
cass to  their  sons,  there  had  never  happened 
so  much  sickness,  pain,  and  misery,  so  un- 
happy lives,  and  such  wretched  ends,  as  we 
now  behold  among  men." 

That  the  sacred  writings,  therefore,  should 
furnish  but  little  instruction  on  the  subject  of 
the  present  discussion,  however  important  to 
so  large  a  proportion  of  modern  believers,  is 
easily  accounted  for.  This  has  fallen  rather 
within  the  province  of  that  science  which 
has  grown  out  of  the  changed  circumstances 
of  man,  especially  the  great  degeneracy  in 
his  habits  of  living.  But  while  we  discover 
in  the  Bible  comparatively  few  of  the  ele- 
ments of  many  modern  theories  concerning 
this  union  of  the  soul  and  body,  and  the 
moral  results,  yet  they  contain  records  of  the 
experience  and  exercises  of  the  religious,  and 
of  others,  which  afford  many  exemplifica- 
tions of  the  fact.  Such  is  supposed  by  some 
to  have  been  the  distressing  affection  of 
Saul,  ascribed  to  an  evil  spirit  from  God, 
the  successive   paroxysms  of   which   were 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  21 

allayed  by  the  music  of  the  son  of  Jesse. 
Stackhouse  thinks  that  it  proceeded  from 
deep  depression  of  spirits,  or  black  bile  in- 
flamed, and  that  he  was  rather  hypochon- 
driac than  possessed.  Agreeable  to  this  bad 
complexion  of  body,  was  the  natural  temper 
of  his  mind. 

Another  example  is  quoted  in  the  case  of 
the  Psalmist  himself,  when,  in  one  of  his 
sacred  songs,  his  harp  is  tuned  to  strains  of 
the  deepest  melancholy,  and  he  mournfully 
sings:  My  soul  refused  to  be  comforted.  I 
rememhered  God,  and  was  troubled;  I  com- 
plained, and  7)iy  sphnt  was  overwhelmed : 
I  am  so  troubled  that  I  cannot  speak.  Will 
the  Lord  cast  off  for  ever?  and  will  he  be 
favourable  no  more?  Is  his  mercy  clean 
gone  for  ever?  Hath  God  forgotten  to 
be  gracious?  And  then  he  adds,  /  said 
this  is  my  infirmity;  an  expression  which 
means,  as  understood  by  some,  that  he  sus- 
pects the  cause  of  his  great  depression  to  be 
physical,  or  to  proceed  from  the  state  of  the 
body. 

Another  illustration  of  this  connexion,  and 
the  influence  of  the  material  part  over  the 


22  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

spiritual,  has  been  drawn  from  the  language 
of  the  Saviour  in  his  gentle  rebuke  of  the 
lethargy  of  the  disciples  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane.  That  they  should  have  fallen 
asleep  under  such  circumstances,  appeared 
to  themselves  to  admit  of  no  apology,  and 
they  did  not  attempt  it.  But  on  being  awaked 
by  their  Master,  he  kindly  remarked,  the 
spirit  is  willing^  but  the  flesh  is  weak. 
The  delinquency  was  to  be  ascribed,  not 
so  much  to  the  state  of  their  heart,  as  to 
bodily  fatigue;  implying,  as  is  commonly 
understood,  a  mild  reproof,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  evinces  the  disposition  of  Christ 
to  regard  it  as  evidence  more  of  natural 
infirmity  than  of  guilt.  The  same  inju- 
rious influence  of  the  earthly  part  is  recog- 
nized by  the  apostle  Paul,  in  those  numerous 
passages  of  his  writings  in  which  he  so 
graphically  describes  the  conflict  between 
the  flesh  and  the  spirit:  I  know  that  in  me, 
that  is  in  my  flesh,  there  dwelleth  no  good 
thing,  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the 
inner  man,  h\it  I  see  another  law  in  my 
members  warring  against  the  law  of  my 
mind,  bringing  me,  &c.     In  another  place 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  23 

he  ascribes  the  inabiUty  of  the  law  to  justify, 
not  to  itself,  but  to  a  weakness  through  the 
flesh.  We  are  aware  that  the  term  flesh  here 
is  used  in  a  figurative  sense,  to  signify  the 
remainder  of  natural  corruption  which  still 
adheres  to  the  man,  even  after  his  moral  state 
has  become  changed  by  regenerating  grace. 
But  the  passages  are  none  the  less  suited  to 
our  purpose,  inasmuch  as  they  imply  that  the 
organs  of  sense  are  made  the  instruments 
through  which  the  corruption  of  our  nature 
is  developed,  and  its  operation  felt  upon  the 
spiritual  man.  In  this  connexion,  it  may  be 
observed,  that  the  writings  of  the  fathers  con- 
tain numerous  quotations  from  the  serious 
minded  heathen,  that  show  a  striking  coinci- 
dence with  the  opinions  of  Paul  on  the  sub- 
ject of  depravity,  and  especially  the  prejudi- 
cial influence  of  the  body.  Tully's  remark 
is  familiar  to  many — that  men  are  brought 
into  life  by  nature,  as  a  step-mother,  with  a 
frail  and  infirm  bofly,  with  a  soul  prone  to 
divers  lusts.  And  what  but  this  doctrine  of 
physical  influence  is  perverted  and  carica- 
tured in  that  motley  mixture  of  Christianity 
and  Persian  philosophy  contained  in  the  sys- 


24  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

tern  of  the  Manicheans  of  the  third  century 
of  the  Christian  era,  concerning  the  two 
principles  of  good  and  evil — the  former  of 
which  is  represented  as  the  creator  of  the 
soul  of  man,  and  the  latter  of  his  body. 

II.  But  if  what  the  Scriptures  contain  on 
this  subject  amounts  only  to  hints  or  impli- 
cations, rather  than  positive  declarations,  our 
light  is  abundant  when  we  come  to  the  testi- 
mony of  science.  The  connexion  and  influ- 
ence of  which  we  speak,  have  been  proved 
and  illustrated  with  great  clearness  by  those 
who  have  examined  the  structure  of  the  hu- 
man system,  its  capacities  and  functions, 
organic,  intellectual,  and  moral.  Indeed  it 
is  as  fully  implied  in  the  abuses  of  this  truth, 
as  it  is  taught  in  its  legitimate  uses.  Thus  it 
has  been  made  to  furnish  the  basis  of  mate- 
rialism under  the  milder,  and,  as  understood 
and  taught  by  many,  the  innocent  forms  of 
cranioscopy,  craniology,*  phrenology,  &c.,  as 
well  as  of  that  grosser  system  which  makes 
the  soul  of  man  a  mere  chymical  combina- 
tion, which  contends  that  it  is  not  a  spiritual 
substance,  distinct  from  his  body,  but  that  the 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  25 

principle  within  him  which  thinks  is  mate- 
rial; and  that  reasoning  and  reflection  are 
functions  of  organized  matter;  which  gravely 
tells  him  that  he  grows  like  a  vegetable,  or 
accretes  like  a  crystal;  or  is  attracted  and 
repulsed  like  a  particle  of  iron  exposed  to 
magnetic  influence;  that  his  brain  secretes 
thought,  as  his  liver  secretes  bile;  that  be- 
lieving and  disbelieving  are  acts  of  the  soul, 
as  is  tasting  of  the  body,  and  one  is  as  desti- 
tute of  any  moral  character  as  the  other; 
and  therefore  that  it  is  as  absurd  to  suppose 
a  man  blamable  for  being  an  atheist  as  for 
being  afllicted  with  an  attack  of  the  gout. 
That  such  sentiments  as  these  are  as  directly 
at  variance  with  sound  science  as  they  are 
with  revealed  religion,  it  is  gratuitous  to  as- 
sert. In  admitting,  as  we  have  done,  that 
this  inexplicable  union  of  the  body  and  soul 
may  involve  many  truths  which  have  not  yet 
been  discovered,  we  do  not  concede  that  it 
warrants  any  such  atheistic  corollaries  as  this. 
It  would  be  easy  to  show,  that  although 
commended  by  names  of  some  notoriety,  yet 
such  a  materialism  is  "a  logical  absurdi- 
ty, and  a  total  misconception  of  the  first 


26  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

principles  of  philosophical  inquiry."  But  as 
it  is  our  purpose  in  this  disquisition  to  keep 
within  the  province  of  Christian  casuistry, 
we  think  it  better,  in  passing,  rather  to  hint 
at  than  quote,  the  numerous  illustrations  of 
the  present  head,  which  are  furnished  by 
physiology.  Yet  all  may  safely  be  granted 
to  the  influence  of  the  flesh  upon  the  spirit, 
which  truth  requires,  without  affording  the 
smallest  grounds  for  those  shocking  conclu- 
sions. 

We  know  and  admit,  that  the  operations 
of  the  intellect  are  closely  allied  to  that  soft 
whitish  mass,  or  viscus,  lodged  beneath  the 
arched  bone  of  the  head,  which  is  called  the 
brain.  Thus  a  blow  which  depresses  a  por- 
tion of  the  skull  upon  the  brain,  will  cause  a 
derangement  or  suspension  of  the  mind's  ope- 
rations until  such  pressure  is  removed.  A 
man  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo  had  a  small  por- 
tion of  his  skull  bone  beat  in  upon  the  brain, 
to  the  depth  of  half  an  inch.  This  caused 
volition  and  sensation  to  cease,  and  he  was 
nearly  in  a  lifeless  state.  So  soon  as  the  de- 
pressed portion  of  bone  was  raised  from  the 
brain,  the   man  immediately  arose,  dressed 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  27 

himself,  became  perfectly  rational,  and  re- 
covered rapidly. 

It  is  also  well  ascertained,  that  the  brain  is 
so  connected  with  the  digestive  organs,  that 
the  vigour  of  its  action  depends,  in  a  great 
degree,  upon  the  healthful  condition  of  them. 
We  know  that  the  brain  of  an  adult  of  ordi- 
nary intellect  is  comparatively  large,  weigh- 
ing about  three  and  a  half  pounds,  often  a 
little  less.  In  some  persons  of  uncommon 
mind,  it  has  been  known  to  be  much  greater. 
The  brain  of  Byron,  for  instance,  is  said  to 
have  weighed  four  and  a  half  pounds,  and 
that  of  Baron  Cuvier  four  pounds  thirteen 
ounces  and  a  half.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
brain  of  an  idiot  does  not  exceed  in  size 
that  of  a  child  a  year  old,  or  between  one 
and  two  pounds  in  weight.  It  has  been 
proved  by  measurement,  that  the  heads  of 
great  thinkers  frequently  continue  to  increase 
until  the  subjects  are  fifty  years  of  age,  and 
long  after  the  other  portions  of  the  system 
have  ceased  to  enlarge.  This  was  true  of 
Bonaparte,  whose  head,  though  small  in 
youth,  in  after  life  became  enormous.  The 
reverse  is  known  to  occur  in  cases  of  pro- 


28  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

tracted  insanity;  not  only  the  brain  dimin- 
ishes, but  the  skull  itself  has  often  sensibly 
contracted,  as  is  mentioned  of  Dean  Swift, 
who,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  sunk  into  a 
state  of  mental  imbecility. 

It  is  vain  then  to  deny,  that  this  wonderful 
part  of  the  body  has  much  to  do  with  the 
manifestations  of  mind,  though  we  know  of 
no  warrant  for  the  strange  conceit  of  the 
older  physiologists,  that  there  is  some  central 
spot  in  that  organ  where  all  the  messages 
of  the  nerves  are  ultimately  reported,  and 
whence  all  the  orders  of  the  will  are  issued ; 
or  for  the  figment  of  Descartes,  that  the  pecu- 
liar seat  of  the  mind  is  the  pineal  gland.  Nor 
is  it  incredible,  that  a  different  combination 
of  the  physical  elements  of  the  man,  may 
occasion  a  corresponding  difference  in  the 
character  and  qualities  of  the  mind ;  that  a 
genius  for  poetry  or  mathematics,  for  paint- 
ing or  music,  may  be  connected  with  a  pecu- 
liar arrangement  or  disposition  of  some  par- 
ticles in  the  animal  economy;  in  other  words, 
that  the  earthen  vessel  is  so  constructed  in 
some  particulars,  which  escape  the  eye  of 
the  anatomist,  as  to  form  a  different  mould, 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  29 

or  give  a  peculiar  shape  to  the  mind,  accord- 
ing to  the  sphere  of  usefulness  for  which  it 
is  designed  by  its  Creator.  All  this  may  be 
true  and  not  conflict  with  the  teachings  of 
revelation.  Indeed,  for  aught  we  know  to 
the  contrary,  it  is  comprehended  in  what  the 
Psalmist  calls  the  "fearful  and  wonderful'' 
construction  of  man.  But  in  what  way  the 
power  of  thought  is  originated,  or  how  it  is 
atfected  by  the  matter  in  which  it  seems  to 
be  lodged,  is  perhaps  as  profound  a  secret  to 
Gabriel  as  it  is  to  us;  while  the  facts  by  which 
the  truth  itself  is  demonstrated,  are,  many  of 
them,  as  affecting  as  ihey  are  familiar.  Is 
the  body  attacked  and  prostrated  by  disease, 
it  is  sure  of  the  sympathy  of  its  spiritual 
partner,  which  is  often  reduced  to  the  feeble- 
ness of  infancy  by  the  debility  of  the  former. 
lis  perceptions  become  obtuse,  the  memory 
fails,  the  power  of  attention  is  gone,  as  we 
are  often  painfully  admonished  by  discover- 
ing that  the  conversation  and  counsels  which 
were  given  to  the  sick,  their  confessions,  and 
promises,  and  prayers,  are  all  forgotten  on 
their  recovery.  Perhaps  it  is  not  recollected 
even  that  we  were  once  at  their  bed-side  and 
3 


so  INFLUENCE  OE    PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

addressed  them.  Or,  is  the  mind  the  object 
of  assault;  how  soon  is  it  evinced  in  the  de- 
rangement of  the  functions  of  the  body,  ina- 
bility to  sleep,  the  loss  of  appetite  for  food,  or 
of  power  to  digest  it.  Hence  dyspepsia,  that 
malady  so  Protean  in  its  forms,  once  gene- 
rally thought  to  be  a  disease  originating 
always  in  the  stomach,  is  now  considered  by 
many  of  the  most  intelligent  of  the  faculty 
as  primarily  a  disease  of  the  brain  and  ner- 
vous system,  perpetuated  by  mental  excite- 
ment, especially  in  the  case  of  students. 
Hence  it  has  been  observed,  that  persons 
who  are  in  the  habit  of  strongly  employing 
their  mental  faculties  shortly  after  taking 
food,  are  more  or  less  subject  to  this  affec- 
tion. In  such  a  case,  the  nervous  energy 
required  for  the  process  of  digestion,  instead 
of  being  expended  upon  the  stomach,  is 
wasted  upon  the  intellectual  organs.  Who 
has  not  noticed  the  physical  effect  of  the 
passions,  such  as  joy,  fear,  jealousy,  grief, 
and  despair?  Sophocles,  Chilo,  Juventius, 
Talma,  and  Fouquet,  are  said  to  have  died 
of  excessive  joy.  A  paroxysm  of  anger  has 
been  known  to  induce  an  attack  of  jaundice. 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  31 

The  teachings  of  Broussais  respecting  in- 
flammation of  the  stomach,  made  such  an 
impression  on  the  minds  of  many,  we  are 
told,  as  to  have  greatly  multipUed  the  cases  in 
Paris  at  the  time;  and  affections  of  the  heart, 
either  real,  imaginary,  or  both,  were  produced 
by  the  lectures  of  Corvisart  on  that  organ, 
who  agrees  with  Testa,  another  writer  on 
the  same  subject,  that  the  feeUngs  have  great 
influence  in  changing  the  natural  action  of 
the  heart,  and  producing  disorder.  The  lat- 
ter author  considered  the  powerful  and  irre- 
gular operation  of  the  passions  as  the  most 
frequent  cause  of  organic  disease  of  the 
heart,  which  explains  why  this  complaint 
was  so  much  more  common  in  Italy  during 
seasons  of  political  agitation,  and  especially 
in  France  at  the  time  of  the  revolution,  than 
at  any  other  period. 

A  few  years  since,  the  hair  on  one  half  of 
the  head  of  a  patient  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital  turned  white,  during  a  single  night, 
from  the  efl'ect  of  fear.  The  whole  head  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  wife  of  Louis  XVI.  of 
France,  became  white  in  one  night  from  the 
same  cause.     And  Dr.  Batchelder,  speaking 


32  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

of  the  medicinal  effect  of  fear,  mentions  a 
case  of  gout  that  was  effectually  expelled  by 
a  sudden  fright. 

At  the  time  that  nitrous  oxide  excited 
almost  universal  attention,  professor  Wood- 
house  tested  the  power  of  the  mind  upon  the 
body  in  several  persons,  who  were  anxious 
to  breathe  the  gas.  He  administered  to  them 
ten  gallons  of  atmospherical  air,  in  doses  of 
from  four  to  six  quarts.  Impressed  with  the 
idea  that  they  were  inhaling  the  exhilarating 
gas,  they  soon  began  to  exhibit  the  usual 
quickness  of  pulse,  vertigo,  ringing  in  the 
ears,  difficulty  of  breathing,  faintness,  weak- 
ness of  the  knees,  and  nausea,  which  lasted 
from  six  to  eight  hours.  Witness,  moreover, 
the  physical  efiects  of  excited  passions  in  cases 
of  mental  derangement.  How  often  has  the 
most  athletic  and  vigorous  frame  soon  be- 
come racked  and  broken  under  the  ravings 
of  insanity,  until  its  vital  powers  were  ex- 
tinguished. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks  of  a  gene- 
ral character,  we  pass  on  to  the  main  and 
more  interesting  part  of  our  inquiry — the 
illustrations  of  this  connexion  between  the 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  33 

outer  and  inner  man,  as  furnished  by  Chris- 
tian Experience. 

III.  We  have  ah'eady  said,  that  it  is  a  sub- 
ject which  is  worthy  of  the  attention  of  all, 
whatever  their  character,  moral  or  religious; 
but  it  is  more  particularly  the  case  of  the 
latter  that  this  investigation  contemplates. 
It  is  to  show  the  constant  and  yet  often  unsus- 
pected actings  of  the  flesh,  with  its  unnum- 
bered infirmities, upon  the  spirit;  and  that  the 
devotional  exercises  of  the  latter  are  greatly 
affected  by  the  physical  condition  of  the  for- 
mer. And  if  the  foregoing  observations  have 
been  uninteresting,  or  unitelligible  to  any, 
there  are  those  who  will  understand  us  now. 
Here  we  strike  a  chord  which  will  vibrate  more 
or  less  on  every  changed  heart  that  has  been 
given  to  the  study  of  its  own  exercises.  No 
person  accustomed  to  notice  his  various  reli- 
gious frames,  can  have  failed  to  perceive  that 
these  are  closely  allied  to  what  is  usually 
denominated  his  "constitution."  Is  there 
such  a  blending  of  the  juices  of  the  animal 
economy  as  to  produce  what  is  called  a 
nervous  temperament,  or  that  excess  of  bile 


34  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

which  makes  it  melancholy?  Or  is  the  man 
gentle  or  serene,  sanguine  or  timid,  cheerful 
or  sad,  you  will  find  that  these  idiosyncrasies 
will  not  be  merged  and  lost  in  the  changes 
wrought  by  regenerating  grace.  His  religion 
will  not  so  neutralize  and  remove  the  cause 
of  his  lowness  of  spirits,  his  timidity,  or 
whatever  it  may  be  that  is  peculiar  to  his 
nature,  as  to  make  him  at  all  times  cheerful 
and  self-possessed.  The  bashful  man  will  be 
a  bashful  Christian ;  and  the  bold  man,  con- 
stitutionally, will  be  bold  in  a  state  of  grace. 
After  all  that  the  Spirit  has  accomplished  in 
each,  it  will  still  be  true  in  all,  that  the  reli- 
gious character  will  be  tinctured  by  that  of 
the  natural  man,  as  the  liquor  put  into  an 
old  cask  commonly  receives  a  strong  tang 
from  the  vessel. 

Quo  semel  est  imbuta  recens,  servabit  odorem 
Testa  diu. 

Tlie  odours  of  the  wine,  that  first  shall  stain 
The  virgin  vessel,  it  shall  long  retain. — Francis. 

In  this  respect  the  Spirit's  operation  on  the 
soul  has  been  happily  compared  to  the  work 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  35 

of  a  sculptor,  who  makes  a  statue  of  wooci,  of 
stone,  or  of  marble,  indifferently  according  to 
the  material  put  into  his  hand.  So  the  Spi- 
rit in  forming  the  new  man  still  retains  so 
much  of  the  old  as  to  make  it  evident  what 
is  the  rock  from  ichich  he  was  hewn.  Nor 
is  it  a  less  interesting  fact,  that  this  gracious 
influence  is  so  exerted  in  the  various  con- 
ditions of  life,  where  it  is  felt,  as  to  qualify 
the  soul  for  the  appropriate  duties  of  its  par- 
ticular station.  Does  regenerating  grace  find 
a  man  in  high  life  or  humble,  in  Caesar's 
household,  among  the  fishermen  of  Galilee, 
or  the  servants  of  Philemon,  it  requires  no 
change  in  his  place,  but  works  a  change  on 
his  heart,  and  gives  new  help  to  discharge 
his  duties  better.  The  same  Holy  Spirit  who 
makes  a  Christian  master  gentle  and  prudent 
in  commanding,  makes  a  Christian  servant 
faithful  and  cheerful  in  obeying;  as  the 
astrologers  said  of  Cyrus,  that  the  same  stars 
which  made  him  to  be  chosen  king  amongst 
the  armies  of  men,  when  he  came  to  be  a 
man,  made  him  to  be  chosen  king  among  the 
shepherds'  children  when  he  was  a  child. 
In  rearing  the  New  Testament  temple  of  the 


36  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

Redeemer  on  earth,  there  is  the  same  occasion 
for  various  gifts  and  kinds  of  service,  that 
there  was  in  the  magnificent  structure  of  Solo- 
mon. And  hence  the  innocent  and  useful 
differences  between  men,  in  their  fallen  state, 
are  preserved  and  turned  to  a  profitable  ac- 
count in  their  recovery.  See  a  familiar  illus- 
tration of  this  in  the  original  teachers  of  the 
gospel,  or  the  twelve  apostles.  Simon  Peter 
was  by  natural  temperament,  ardent,  san- 
guine, precipitate ;  and  this  characteristic  of 
the  natural  man  is  continually  betraying  itself 
after  his  conversion.  You  observe  it  in  his 
conversations  with  his  Master  ;  his  bold  pro- 
fessions, hasty  promises,  which  opened  the 
way  for  his  sifting  by  Satan,  and  his  lamenta- 
ble fail.  After  the  resurrection,  see  him  run- 
ning with  John  to  visit  the  sepulchre ;  and 
while  his  timid  and  cautious  companion  stoops 
down  at  first,  and  only  ventures  to  look  into 
the  place,  the  intrepid  Peter  rushes  by  and 
plunges  into  the  gloomy  abode  of  the  dead, 
examines  the  very  spot  where  the  sacred 
dust  had  rested,  and  the  linen  clothes  in 
which  it  had  been  wrapped.  Both  of  them 
regenerated  men,  and  men  perhaps  of  equal 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  37 

piety;  but  very  unlike  before  their  conver- 
sion, and  scarcely  more  alike  afterwards. 

Look  next  at  Paul,  whose  lofty  bearing, 
and  undaunted  courage  by  nature,  was  not 
a  whit  impaired,  but  only  sanctified  by  grace, 
and  retained  to  the  end  of  his  life.  See  Lu- 
ther and  Melancthon,  as  opposite  in  their 
Christian  character  as  they  were  in  their  ori- 
ginal temperament.  "  Melancthon,"  says  Ce- 
cil, "  is  like  a  snail  with  his  couple  of  horns : 
he  puts  out  his  horns  and  feels — and  feels — 
and  feels.  No  education  could  have  rendered 
these  two  men  alike.  Their  difference  began 
in  the  womb.  Luther  dashes  in  saying  his 
things :  Melancthon  must  go  round  about." 
The  same  divine  influence  had  wrought 
efiectually  on  the  heart  of  both ;  yet,  like 
the  statue  of  which  we  spoke,  the  image  cor- 
responded to  the  material  out  of  wh;ch  it  had 
been  constructed.  That  any  amount  of  spi- 
ritual influence  should  ever  destroy  these 
physical  characteristics  and  make  men  of 
such  divers  temperaments  alike,  is  to  be  ex- 
pected no  more,  than  that  it  should  make 
them  of  one  stature,  or  give  them  the  same 
features  or  complexion. 
4 


38  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

It  will  be  recollected  how  Caesar  recog- 
nizes the  influence  of  temperament,  when  he 
objected  to  Cassias,  because  he  was  "lean 
and  thought  too  much."  He  wished  to  have 
around  him 

"Sleek  headed  men,  and  such  as  sleep  o'  nights. 
Would  he  were  falter." 

But  there,  are  other,  and  in  some  respects 
more  marked  and  painful  illustrations,  in  the 
morbid  experience  of  some  Christians,  which 
are  at  once  an  effect  and  a  symptom  of  the 
state  of  their  health.  We  speak  of  such 
as  are  familiarly  said  to  look  only  at  the  dark 
side  of  every  object,  and  are  imwilhng  to  en- 
gage in  any  enterprise,  from  an  anticipation 
of  its  faiUire.  Whether  the  happiness  of  this 
world  or  the  next  be  their  pursuit,  the  pros- 
pect is  cheered  by  scarcely  a  ray  of  hope. 
Such  a  tendency  to  gloom  is  a  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  by  which  they  are  often  tormented; 
nor  is  any  class  more  exposed  to  the  butfet- 
ings  of  this  minister  of  Satan,  than  the 
teachers  of  religion.  How  often  do  we  wit- 
ness the  sad  spectacle  of  those  whose  mani- 
fold bodily  infirmities,  brought  on  by  seden- 
tary habits,  great  anxiety,  or  excessive  study 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  39 

and  exhaustion  of  sensorial  power,  defraud 
them  of  all  the  consolations  of  that  benignant 
system  of  faith  which  they  are  enabled  to  ex- 
pound so  successfully  to  others.  Instead  of 
an  open  cheerful  expression  of  countenance, 
we  often  see  a  Avrinkled,  contracted,  sinister 
look,  which  speaks  any  thing  but  in  favour 
of  the  benign  religion  of  the  gospel.  Thus, 
Christianity  itself  is  made  to  suffer  from  the 
physical  sufferings  of  its  professors  and  ex- 
pounders. The  light-minded  and  thoughtless 
imbibe  a  prejudice  against  it,  from  observing 
the  care-worn  and  sorrowful  features  of  some 
of  its  advocates.  They  think  it  to  be  a  legiti- 
mate effect  of  their  principles,  and  are  made  to 
shun  the  places,  and  books,  and  people  whose 
influence  appears  to  be  so  detrimental  to  all 
earthly  enjoyment.  Unhappily,  these  out- 
ward tokens  of  disquietude  are  but  too  signi- 
ficant of  what  is  passing  within.  If  the  face 
be  covered  with  gloom,  it  is  only  an  index  of 
the  state  of  such  a  Christian's  heart,  when  in 
the  retirement  of  his  closet  he  pours  out  its 
exercises,  in  lamentations,  and  confessions  of 
sin,  and  supplications  for  relief  At  one 
time,  he  feels  that  he  has  grieved  the  Spirit, 


40  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

that  his  best  services  are  only  hypocritical 
forms,  and  surely  God  has  forsaken  him. 
His  heart  appears  like  the  nether  millstone, 
and  his  bosom  the  cage  of  every  unclean  bird. 
The  arrows  of  the  Alviighty  are  within  him, 
the  poison  whereof  drinketh  up  his  spirit, 
and  the  terrors  of  God  do  set  themselves  in 
array  against  him.  Again  the  scene  is 
wholly  changed;  the  turbid  current  of  his 
thoughts  has  become  clear  as  crystal.  The 
rain  is  over  and  gone,  and  the  time  of  the 
singing  of  birds  is  come.  The  change  in  his 
exercises  is  like  the  transition  from  the  ter- 
rific tempest  to  the  serene  sky,  and  air,  and 
pleasant  sun  that  follow  it.  Or  ever  he  is 
aware  his  soul  makes  him  like  the  chariots 
of  Jlmminadib.  His  doubts  are  solved,  his 
fears  are  gone,  and  his  present  joys  perhaps 
are  in  proportion  to  his  previous  sadness.  He 
is  brought  into  Christ's  banqueting  house, 
and  the  banner  over  him  is  love.  He  is 
stayed  with  flagons  and  comforted  with 
apples  and  restored  to  the  joys  of  salvation. 

That  such  spiritual  fluctuations  as  these,  to 
which  so  many  Christians  are  subject,  are 
very  often  produced  by  physical  causes,  is  as 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  41 

capable  of  proof,  as  it  is  that  an  excited  pulse 
and  increased  heat  are  symptoms  of  fever. 
They  are  the  reflected  influence  of  some 
bodily  malady  upon  the  soul.  Thus,  how 
many  have  discovered  that  their  periods  of 
spiritual  depression  are  always  contempora- 
,neous  with  periodical  changes  in  their  physi- 
cal condition,  or  with  that  sort  of  indisposi- 
tion which  proceeds  from  gastric  derange- 
ment or  an  aflection  of  the  liver.  How  many 
thousands  are  daily  aff'ected  by  changes  in  the 
atmosphere,  scarcely  less  than  was  Dr.  Fran- 
cia.  Dictator  of  Paraguay,  whose  most  extra- 
vagant outbreaks  of  passion,  and  cruel  exer- 
tions of  despotic  power  generally  occurred 
during  his  seasons  of  hypochondria,  which 
were  most  frequent  when  the  wind  was 
north-east,  but  which  ended  with  a  change 
to  south-west,  when  he  would  begin  to  sing 
and  laugh  to  himself,  and  was  readily  acces- 
sible. The  cases  in  which  this  sort  of  morbid 
suffering  is  exemplified  are  so  numerous,  that 
their  name  is  Legion.  They  find  that  their 
state  while  here  "is  a  conjunction  of  their 
soul  to  a  frail  distempered  body,  and  so  near 
a  conjunction  that  the  actions  of  the  soul 


42  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

must  have  great  dependence  on  the  body. 
Its  apprehensions  of  spiritual  good  are  Uniited 
by  the  frailty  of  the  body,  and  the  soul  can 
go  no  higher  than  the  body  will  allow."  We 
have  known  instances  in  which  the  seasons 
of  spiritual  joy  and  depression  alternated 
like  an  intermittent  disease,  coming  and  de- 
parting at  regular  intervals.  A  venerable 
clergyman  still  living,  who  has  suffered 
greatly  from  nervous  affections,  long  since 
discovered  this  to  be  characteristic  of  his  own, 
viz :  that  when  the  period  of  gloom  and 
distress  did  not  terminate  for  two  or  three 
weeks,  it  would  in  the  mean  time  recur  only 
every  other  day.  But  the  more  common 
cases  are  those  in  which  the  cloud,  when 
gathered,  remains  suspended  and  unmoved 
for  days  or  weeks,  with  scarcely  a  gleam  of 
sunshine.  Such  a  sufferer  was  the  late  emi- 
nently learned  and  pious  Isaac  Milner,  Dean 
of  Carlisle,  whose  extraordinary  talents  and 
attainments  in  science  were  conceded  by  all, 
and  whose  genuine  piety  was  questioned  by 
none  but  himself.  And  yet,  while  the  source 
of  so  nmch  light  and  spiritual  instruction  to 
others,  he  was  often  an  opaque  and  cheerless 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  43 

body  to  himself.  ^'  Though  I  have  endeavour- 
ed to  discharge  my  duty  as  well  as  I  could/' 
he  writes  to  Mr.  Wilberforce,  "yet  sadness 
and  melancholy  of  heart  stick  close  by  and 
increase  upon  me.  I  tell  nobody,  but  I  am 
very  much  sunk  indeed,  and.  I  wish  I  could 
have  the  relief  of  weeping  as  I  used  to  do.'' 
Again,  in  writing  to  another,  a  clerical  friend, 
he  says,  "  my  views  have  of  late  been  ex- 
ceedingly dark  and  distressing;  in  a  word, 
AUnighty  God  seems  to  hide  his  face.  I  en- 
trust the  secret  hardly  to  any  earthly  being. 
I  know  not  what  will  become  of  me.  There 
is  doubtless  a  good  deal  of  bodily  affection 
mingled  with  this,  but  it  is  not  all  so.  I  bless 
God,  however,  that  I  never  lose  sight  of  the 
cross;  and  though  I  should  die  without  see- 
ing any  personal  interest  in  the  Redeemer's 
merits — I  think,  I  hope,  that  I  should  be 
found  at  his  feet.  I  will  thank  you  for  a 
word  at  your  leisure.  My  door  is  bolted  at 
the  time  of  my  writing  this,  for  I  am  full  of 
tears."  Such  spiritual  sadness  is  easily  ac- 
counted for,  when  it  is  understood  that  Dr. 
Milner  was  for  upwards  of  forty  years  a  vic- 
tim of  some  of  the  most  distressing  complaints 


44  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

that  flesh  is  heir  to.  Spasms  in  his  stomach, 
severe  and  uninterrupted  headaches,  oppres- 
sion of  the  breath,  broken  shimbers,  disturb- 
ed by  frightful  dreams,  were  among  the  dis- 
eases which  caused  his  physicians  to  tell  him, 
many  years  before  his  death,  that  with  such 
a  pulse  as  his,  a  man's  life  was  not  worth 
one  minute. 

Another  example  is  furnished  by  Richard 
Baxter,  in  whose  practical  and  devotional 
writings  it  is  easy  to  discover  the  constitution- 
al habits  and  quaUties  of  the  man.  No  person, 
not  inspired,  ever  wrote  more  graphically  of 
heaven  and  hell,  as  if  he  had  visited  both,  and 
had  come  back  to  the  earth  again  to  exhort 
men  to  seek  the  one  and  escape  the  other. 
But  notwithstanding  his  preeminent  piety, 
yet  during  his  early  years,  his  mind  was 
greatly  troubled  with  doubts  about  his  own 
salvation,  promoted,  says  his  biographer,  by 
the  particular  cast  of  his  mind,  and  the  state 
of  his  body.  And  though  habitually  under 
the  government  of  religious  principles,  it  is 
well  known,  that  he  had  certain  besetting  in- 
firmities of  temper,  which  are  among  the 
most  common  diagnostics  of  what  were  some 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  45 

01  his  manifold  diseases.  The  late  Dr.  Pay- 
son  was  another,  whose  vibrations  of  Chris- 
tian feeling,  from  the  joyous  to  the  sad,  the 
cheerful  to  the  desponding  and  melancholy, 
are  scarcely  less  notorious  than  were  his  un- 
common zeal  and  ministerial  success.  The 
cause  is  at  once  explained,  when  his  biogra- 
pher tells  us  that  his  physical  conformation 
was  of  a  very  delicate  structure,  extremely 
sensitive,  and  easily  excited,  so  that  nervous 
irritability  and  consequent  depression  were 
an  ingredient  in  his  nature.  Hence,  he  adds, 
we  have  seen  him  writing  bitter  things 
against  himself,  for  causes  which,  with  a  dif- 
ferent temperament,  would  have  given  him 
little  uneasiness.  The  case  of  David  Brain- 
erd,  the  apostolic  missionary,  is  in  some  res- 
pects more  marked  and  instructive  on  this 
subject,  than  even  Payson's.  But  it  is  easy 
to  make  the  almost  opposite  and  contradic- 
tory details  of  his  diary  harmonize  with  one 
another,  and  both  with  eminent  godliness, 
when  the  writer  of  his  Memoirs,  President 
Edwards,  tells  us  of  his  frail  health,  and  of 
his  constitutional  proneness  to  dejection  and 
melancholy.     His  wilUng  spirit  would  have 


46  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

made  him  a  rival  of  Paul,  but  under  the 
weakness  of  his  flesh,  he  sunk  before  he 
reached  the  age  of  thirty. 

Such  illustrations  need  not  be  multiplied, 
and  yet  we  cannot  forbear  to  advert,  for  a  mo- 
ment, before  we  pass  on,  to  the  touching  case 
of  one  in  whose  character  there  is  an  abiding 
interest,  which  afl'ords  a  guaranty  that  the 
repetition,  even  of  that  which  is  familiarly 
known,  will  not  be  tiresome.  And  perhaps 
within  the  range  of  casuistic  research,  we 
could  not  find  a  more  affecting  instance  of 
morbid  religious  affection,  than  that  of  Cow- 
per.  How  long  his  mind  was  shrouded  in. 
darkness,  and  racked  with  the  most  fearful 
forebodings,  is  as  widely  known  as  is  his 
name.  In  one  of  liis  somewhat  playful 
moods,  when  writing  to  the  Rev.  John  New- 
ton, ''  my  thoughts,"  he  says,  ^^are  clad  in  a 
sober  livery,  for  the  most  part  as  grave  as  that 
of  a  bishop's  servant.  They  turn,  too,  upon 
spiritual  subjects;  but  the  tallest  fellow,  and 
the  loudest  among  them  all,  is  he  who  is  con- 
tinually crying  out  with  a  loud  voice,  actum 
est  de  te,  periisti — it  is  all  over,  you  are  lost." 
But  what  was  the  state  of  iiis  mind  for  many 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  47 

years,  is  no  where  described  in  more  affecting 
terms  tlian  in  the  last  original  poem  which 
he  ever  wrote,  and  which  he  called  the  Cast- 
away. It  was  founded  on  an  incident  men- 
tioned in  Lord  Anson's  Voyages,  which  he 
had  read  many  years  before,  though  the  con- 
cluding stanzas  show,  that  the  real  subject  of 
his  muse  was  not  the  sufferer  mentioned  by 
Anson :  for  having  described  the  case  of  the 
unhappy  mariner,  his  being  washed  headlong 
from  on  board, 

"  Of  friends,  of  hope,  of  all  bereft ;" 

his  sinking  beneath  the  "  whelming  brine:" 
then  rising  to  the  surface,  struggling  among 
the  waves,  his  crying  for  help,  the  efforts 
made  to  save  him,  the  mournful  sound  of 
his  voice  heard  in  every  blast  by  his  com- 
rades, as  the  ship  was  driven  farther  and 
farther  from  him,  till  they 

"Could  catch  the  sound  no  more;" 

when,  overcome  at  length,  and  exhausted,  he 
sunk;  the  poet  then  adds: 

"  I  therefore  purpose  not,  or  dream. 
Descanting  on  his  fate, 
To  give  the  melancholy  theme 
A  more  enduring  date ; 


4S  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

But  misery  delights  to  trace 
Its  semblance  in  another's  case. 

No  voice  divine  the  storm  allayed, 

No  light  propitious  shone; 

When  snatched  from  all  effectual  aid, 

We  perish'd  each  alone ; 
But  I  beneath  a  rougher  sea, 
Am  whelmed  in  deeper  gulfs  than  he." 

That  the  cause  of  Cowper^s  spiritual  de- 
pression was  disease,  has  been  abundantly 
proved  to  all,  unless  it  be  those  "who  would 
far  sooner  tolerate  a  poet's  being  a  madman 
than  his  being  a  saint."  His  despondency- 
was  produced  by  physical  causes,  which 
could  not  be  removed  by  reasoning,  any 
more  than  a  headach  or  a  paroxysm  of  the 
gout.  Like  other  valetudinarians  of  a  par- 
ticular class,  his  nerves  were  as  sensitive  to 
atmospheric  changes,  as  is  the  mercury  of 
the  barometer.  He  was  joyful  or  sad,  as  the 
day  was  serene  or  cloudy.  "  1  rise  cheerless 
or  distressed,"  says  he  to  one  of  his  friends, 
"  and  brighten  as  the  sun  goes  on."  He  had 
his  four  seasons  of  feeling,  as  the  revolving 
earth  described  the  four  grand  stages  of  the 
sun's  progress  in  the  ecliptic.     Thus,  in  an- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  49 

Other  of  his  letters,  he  says :  ^'  I  now  see  a  long 
winter  before  me,  and  am  to  get  through  it 
as  1  can.  I  know  the  ground  before  I  tread 
upon  it:  it  is  hollow;  it  is  agitated;  it  suffers 
shocks  in  every  direction;  it  is  like  the  soil 
of  Calabria — all  whirlpool  and  undulation. 
But  I  must  reel  through  it;  at  least,  if  I  be 
not  swallowed  up  by  the  way." 


50  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 


CHAPTER  II. 


USES    OF   KNOWLEDGE    ON    THIS    SUBJECT. 


I  was  a  stricken  deer  that  left  the  herd, 

Long  since.     With  many  an  arrow  dnep  infixed 

My  panting  sides  were  charged.— Cowper. 


Though  the  character  of  this  discussion  as 
well  as  its  Hmited  scope,  have  precluded 
many  important  remarks  which  come  within 
the  province  of  the  physiologist,  yet  much 
that  might  be  written  is  rendered  unnecessa- 
ry, by  a  knowledge  which  many  derive  from 
their  own  experience.  It  is  a  subject  which, 
as  we  have  said  before,  is  too  little  examined 
and  understood.  "Manyof  our  young  preach- 
ers," says  Dr.  Alexander,  in  his  instructive 
book  on  Religious  Experience,  "  when  they 
go  forth  on  their  important  errand,  are  poorly 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  51 

qualified  to  direct  the  doubting  conscience,  or 
to  administer  safe  consolation  to  the  troubled 
in  spirit.  And  in  modern  preaching  there  is 
little  account  made  of  the  various  distressing 
cases  of  deep  affliction  under  which  many 
serious  persons  are  suffering.'^  To  no  small 
proportion  of  the  religious,  both  teachers  and 
people,  it  seems  to  be  a  profound  secret,  how- 
much  the  exercises  of  a  changed  heart  may- 
be affected  by  the  health  or  the  condition  of 
the  body.  And  is  a  man  unable  to  judge  him- 
self, much  less  is  he  qualified  to  meet  the  nu- 
merous cases  that  are  almost  daily  presented 
in  an  extensive  pastoral  charge,  when  un- 
skilled to  distinguish  withi  some  degree  of 
accuracy,  between  influences  which  proceed 
from  the  body,  and  the  principles,  disposi- 
tion, and  state  of  the  soul.  As  a  part  of  his 
furniture  for  some  of  the  most  responsible 
labours  of  his  calling,  he  needs  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  a  subject  so  closely  con- 
nected with  Christian  experience.  The  prac- 
tical uses  of  the  knowledge  of  which  we 
come  to  speak  now,  cannot  be  fully  enume- 
rated, nor  adequately  described.  As  the 
apostle  says  of  the  inspired  truth  which  he 


52  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

commends  to  Timothy,  we  would  say,  that 
it  is  profitable — 

1.  For  doctrine. 

We  mean  to  say,  that  here  is  presented  a 
theory  in  casuistic  divinity  which  solves  in- 
numerable cases  of  constant  occurrence,  by 
which  many  are  often  confounded  without  it. 
It  is  admitted,  that  there  is  a  difficulty  to  be 
encountered,  in  turning  such  doctrine  on  the 
subject  of  our  spiritual  maladies  to  a  benefi- 
cial result,  on  account  of  the  inability  to  con- 
vince the  sufferer  of  the  real  cause  of  his  des- 
pondency. He  seems  to  lack  the'capacity  of 
perceiving,  or  of  applying  the  sort  of  truth 
which  his  case  requires,  however  plainly  it 
may  be  set  before  him;  for  it  is  rare, as  Presi- 
dent Edwards  observes,  in  speaking  of  Brain- 
erd,  that  melancholy  people  are  sensible  of 
their  own  disease — and  that  such  things  are 
to  be  ascribed  to  it  as  are  undoubtedly  its  ge- 
nuine fruits  or  effects.  Otherwise  we  should 
be  amazed  at  the  perplexity  anddisconsolate- 
ness  of  some  excellent  characters,  and  the 
readiness  with  which  they  refuse  to  be  com- 
forted. Even  the  acute  and  discriminating 
Dr.  Rush,  so  skilful  in  explaining  and  reliev- 
ing the  maladies  of  others,  was  utterly  de- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  53 

ceived  in  relation  to  his  own.  His  Essay  on 
the  Influence  of  Physical  Causes  upon  the 
Moral  Faculty,  evinces  mature  reflection,  and 
accurate  knowledge  on  this  subject;  and  yet, 
when,  in  a  state  of  religious  despondency  him- 
self, he  was  assured  by  his  pastor  that  it  was 
a  symptom  of  disease,  he  could  not  believe 
it.  Nor  did  he  become  fully  convinced  that 
the  cause  of  his  spiritual  distress  was  physi- 
cal, until  it  had  been  removed  by  the  im- 
provement of  his  general  health.  Indeed  it 
is  commonly  found,  that  where  mental  de- 
pression results  from  impaired  health,  our  at- 
tempts to  relieve  the  mind  by  counsel,  tend 
ratiier  to  aggravate  its  sorrow,  so  long  as  the 
physical  cause  remains  unmitigated. 

In  the  last  illness  of  the  commentator  Scott, 
his  mind  was  observed  by  his  friends  to  be 
gloomy,  during  the  paroxysm  of  his  fever; 
nor  could  his  comfort  be  restored  by  any 
counsels  of  his  pious  attendants,  until  the 
fever  had  abated.  Andrew  Fuller  also  suf- 
fered greatly  on  his  deathbed,  from  a  similar 
cause.  So  when  Dr.  Madan  once  attempted 
to  calm  the  mind  of  Cowper,  by  quotations 
from  the  Scriptures,  it  served  only  to  increase 
5 


54  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

his  sufferings.  It  was  then  at  the  commence- 
ment of  a  slow  nervous  fever  to  which  he 
was  hable;  but  after  four  months  skilful 
treatment  by  Dr.  Cotton,  his  health  was  so 
far  improved  that  the  promises  of  the  gospel 
were  apprehended  without  hesitation,  and 
whatever  his  friend  Madan  had  said  to  him 
long  before,  revived  in  all  its  clearness. 

We  have  known  persons,  says  an  aged 
preacher  of  the  gospel  still  in  the  ministry, 
poor  in  spirit,  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness,  glorying  only  in  the  cross  of 
Christ,  and  yet  gloomily  concluding  that  they 
have  no  lot  nor  part  in  the  matter,  and  that 
their  heart  is  not  right  with  God.  And  why? 
The  reason  is  to  be  found  in  something  be- 
yond the  preacher's  province;  and  till  there 
is  a  change  in  the  animal  economy,  all  the 
succours  of  religion  are  in  vain. 

2.  Another  profitable  use  of  this  subject 
is,  for  the  promotion  of  charity. 

So  far  as  it  is  understood  and  practically 
felt,  it  will  make  us  pause  before  we  censure 
those  of  our  brethren  whose  condition  rather 
claims  our  condolence  and  hearty  commisera- 
tion. We  think  them  morose,  hypochondriac, 
or  misanthropic;  assail  them  with  raillery  and 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  55 

banter,  and  anon  with  reproof  for  feelings  of 
sadness,  which  they  can  no  more  resist  or 
control,  than  they  can  prevent  a  flushed 
cheek  in  fever,  or  a  yellow  skin  in  jaundice. 
We  might  as  well  jeer  at  Dr.  Watts  for  his 
pigmy  size,  at  Pope  for  his  deformity,  or  at 
jMilton  for  his  blindness.  And  yet  there  are 
many  in  society,  even  among  the  intelligent, 
who  are  accustomed  to  treat  all  such  cases 
of  nervous  disorder,  as  only  imaginary  com- 
plaints, which  are  better  managed  by  ridi- 
cule than  by  sober  counsel,  whether  medical 
or  religious.  In  order  to  cure  them,  they 
think  it  necessary  only  to  divert  the  attention 
of  the  suflerer,  and  convince  him  that  he  will 
be  well  enough  and  recover  his  lost  cheerful- 
ness, if  he  will  but  cease  to  brood  over  his 
own  wretchedness,  mix  in  society,  and  think 
of  other  things  beside  himself.  "  Many  will 
say  to  such  an  one,  ^Why  do  you  so  pore 
over  your  case,  and  thus  gratify  the  devil?' 
Whereas  it  is  the  very  nature  of  the  disease 
to  cause  such  fixed  musing.  You  might  as 
well  say  to  a  man  in  a  fever,  ^  Why  are  you 
not  well?  why  will  you  be  sick?'  Some, 
indeed,  suppose  that  the  melancholy  hug  their 


56  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL   CAUSES 

disease  and  are  unwilling  to  give  it  up.  You 
might  as  well  suppose  that  a  man  would  be 
pleased  with  lying  on  a  bed  of  thorns.'^  The 
reason  of  their  utter  misapprehension  of  such 
cases,  is  their  own  happy  exemption  from  all 
that  sort  of  morbid  wretchedness  which  they 
treat  with  sd  much  levity  in  others,  without 
knowing  what  they  do.  To  persons  of  this 
description,  moreover,  all  our  disquisitions  on 
the  moral  effect  of  physical  causes,  are  much 
like  a  treatise  in  Tamul  or  Hindostanee:  they 
have  no  just  conception  of  our  meaning,  nor 
of  the  utiUty  of  what  we  say.  Nor  is  it 
among  the  lighter  afflictions  of  the  subjects 
of  nervQus  affections,  that  they  receive  so 
little  charity  or  sympathy  from  others  whose 
general  intelligence,  and  especially  religious 
pretensions,  would  warrant  them  to  expect 
more  courtesy  at  least,  if  not  greater  tender- 
ness. But  if  our  subject  is  unintelligible  to 
some,  it  is  not  so  to  others;  we  describe  an 
experience  with  which  they  are  wofully  fa- 
miliar ;  and  while  they  are  not  slow  to  con- 
demn themselves  for  their  fretfulness,  irrita- 
bility of  temper,  and  many  obliquities  of  feel- 
ing and  conduct  which  they  so  frequently  be- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  57 

tray,  yet  their  faults,  however  numerous,  will 
be  judged  with  least  severity  by  those  who 
best  understand  the  cause.  With  nerves  so 
disordered  and  unstrung,  there  is  need  of  far 
more  vigilance  and  prayer,  to  even  appear 
cheerful  and  amiable,  than  most  good  men, 
without  very  special  grace,  are  able  to  main- 
tain. "A  man  may  be  a  good  performer,  but 
what  can  he  do  whh  a  disordered  instrument? 
The  occupant  of  a  house  may  have  good  eyes, 
but  how  can  he  see  accurately  through  a 
soiled  window?  Let  the  organ  be  put  in 
tune,  and  the  glass  be  made  clean,  before  you 
call  in  question  the  musical  skill  of  the  one, 
or  the  eyesight  of  the  other.''  In  his  excellent 
counsels  on  the  subject  of  spiritual  depression 
and  melancholy,  the  Rev.  Timothy  Rogers, 
who  lived  in  London  near  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  enjoins  it  upon  their 
friends  to  treat  persons  thus  afflicted  with 
great  compassion,  and  never  use  harsh  lan- 
guage to  them  when  suffering  from  this  cause. 
This  will  only  serve  to  fret  and  perplex  them 
the  more,  but  will  never  confer  any  benefit. 
"From  my  own  experience  I  can  testify," 
says  he,  "that  the  mild  and  gentle  way  of 
dealing  with  such  is  the  best.'' 


53  INFLUENCE  OP    PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

3.  Another  most  important  use  of  this  sub- 
ject, is  for  repi'oof  and  correction. 

When  thoroughly  examined  and  well  un- 
derstood, it  exposes  and  explodes  the  popu- 
lar error  in  relation  to  those  disordered  states 
of  the  mind  that  are  supposed  by  many  to  be 
produced  by  rehgion.  Such  events  are  deplo- 
rable whenever  they  occur,  and  whatever  the 
occasion;  but  it  would  certainly  be  a  remark- 
able exception  to  the  general  doctrines  of  phi- 
losophy as  well  as  of  religion,  if  it  could  be 
proved  that  these  are  the  legitimate  effect  of 
so  pure  and  benignant  a  cause.  "This  one 
thing  I  must  testify/'  says  Dr.  Alexander, 
"  that  I  never  knew  the  most  pungent  con- 
victions of  sin  to  terminate  in  insanity;  and 
as  to  the  affections  of  love  to  God  and  the 
lively  hope  of  everlasting  life  producing  in- 
sanity, it  is  toa  absurd  for  any  one  to  believe 
it."  We  readily  concede  that  this  belongs 
to  a  legion  of  evils,  intellectual  and  moral  as 
well  as  physical,  which  are  the  natural  pro- 
duct of  fanaticism  and  superstition;  and  this 
explains  the  fact,  that  before  the  revolution 
so  large  a  proportion  of  the  insane  in  France 
were  monks.  Indeed,  it  is  difhcult  to  account 
for  many  of  the  effects  of  enthusiasm  in  any 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  59 

Other  way,  than  by  supposing  it  to  be  a  spe- 
cies of  insanity  in  which  the  aberration  re- 
lates usually  to  one  subject,  while  in  others 
the  judgment  is  sound.  And  it  is  perfectly 
obvious,  that  the  greatly  multiplied  cases  of 
this  kind  of  mental  disorder  at  the  present 
time,  in  different  parts  of  our  country,  are 
the  offspring  of  certain  epidemical  delusions 
by  which  we  have  been  sorely  afflicted  of 
late,  and  which  have  been  promoted  by 
nothing  so  much,  as  by  the  notice  of  others, 
and  especially  their  attempts  to  suppress 
them  by  coercion.  But  we  are  sustained, 
not  by  the  highest  medical  authority  only, 
but  by  a  faithful  examination  of  the  statis- 
tics of  insanity,  when  we  assert  that  the  hal- 
lucinations of  those  persons  whose  mental 
disorder  is  imputed  to  religion,  "are  the  re- 
sult of  pre-existing  disease,  and  only  take 
their  form  from  the  accidental  liabits  and 
feelings  of  the  patients."  This  has  been  so 
fully  demonstrated,  that  scarcely  any  modern 
writer  of  eminence  advocates  the  opposite 
opinion.  From  the  numerous  authors  whose 
testimony  is  easily  accessible,  we  will  quote 
a  paragraph  from  two  or  three,  who  are  in 


60  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

the  highest  repute.  "In  regard  to  what  are 
called  the  moral  causes  of  insanity/'  says 
Dr.  Abercrombie,  "I  suspect  there  has  been 
a  good  deal  of  fallacy  arising  from  consider- 
ing as  a  moral  cause,  that  which  was  really 
a  part  of  the  disease.  This,  I  think,  applies 
in  a  peculiar  manner  to  the  important  subject 
of  religion,  which  by  a  common  but  very 
loose  method  of  speaking,  is  often  mentioned 
as  a  cause  of  insanity.  But  where  there  is 
a  constitutional  tendency  to  insanity,  or  to 
melancholy,  one  of  its  leading  modifications, 
every  subject  is  distorted  to  which  the  mind 
can  be  directed;  and  none  more  frequently 
or  more  remarkably,  than  religious  belief. 
This,  however,  is  the  effect,  not  the  cause; 
and  the  various  forms  which  it  assumes,  may 
be  ascribed  to  the  subject  being  one  to  which 
the  minds  of  all  men  are  so  naturally  directed 
in  one  degree  or  another,  and  of  which  no 
man  living  can  divest  himself." 

"There  is  not  a  tittle  of  evidence,"  says 
Dr.  Burrowes  in  his  well  known  work  on 
insanity,  "to  substantiate  that  Christianity, 
abstractedly,  ever  made  a  person  insane. 
Such  an  accusation  is  only  one  of  the  abor- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  61 

tions  of  infidelity,  or  of  those  who  lack  know- 
ledge." 

Says  Dr.  John  Cheyne,  author  of  a  most 
interesting  work  on  partial  derangement  of 
mind  in  supposed  connexion  with  religion, 
"We  never  saw  a  case  of  mental  derange- 
ment, even  where  it  was  traceable  to  a  moral 
cause,  in  which  there  was  not  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  bodily  disease  could  have  been  de- 
tected before  the  earliest  aberration,  had  an 
opportunity  of  examination  been  offered. 
Not  only  does  every  deranged  state  of  the 
intellectual  faculties  and  the  natural  affec- 
tions depend  upon  bodily  disease,  but  de- 
rangements of  the  religious  and  moral  senti- 
ments also.'' 

And,  not  to  multiply  authorities,  we  will 
add  no  more  than  a  paragraph  from  Dr. 
Combe,  who,  in  full  concurrence  with  the 
others,  maintains  that  "when  fairly  exam- 
ined, the  danger  is  seen  to  arise  solely  from 
the  abuse  of  religion;  and  indeed,  that  the 
best  safeguard  is  found  in  a  right  understand- 
ing of  its  principles  and  submission  to  its 
precepts.  For  if  the  best  Christian  be  he, 
who  in  meekness,  humility,  and  sincerity, 
6 


i)2  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

places  his  trust  in  God  and  seeks  to  fulfill  all 
his  commandments,  then  he  who  exhausts 
his  soul  in  devotion,  and  at  the  same  time 
finds  no  leisure  or  no  inclination  for  attend- 
ing to  the  common  duties  of  his  station,  and 
who,  so  far  from  arriving  at  happiness  or 
peace  of  mind,  becomes  every  day  the  more 
estranged  from  them,  and  finds  himself  at 
last  involved  in  disease  and  despair,  cannot 
be  held  as  a  follower  of  Christ,  but  must 
rather  be  held  as  the  follower  of  a  phantom 
assuming  the  aspect  of  religion.  When  in- 
sanity attacks  the  latter,  it  is  obviously  not 
religion  that  is  the  cause;  it  is  only  the  abuse 
of  certain  feelings,  the  regulated  activity  of 
which  is  necessary  to  the  right  exercise  of 
religion ;  and  against  such  abuse,  a  sense  of 
true  religion  would  have  been  the  most  pow- 
erful protection." 

Within  the  sphere  of  our  own  pastoral 
labours,  there  have  occurred  four  cases  of 
this  species  of  mental  disorder,  three  of  which 
were  connected  with  known  physical  de- 
rangement. Two  were  effectually  relieved 
after  a  few  months,  by  judicious  medical 
treatment,  though  one  of  them  was  so  aggra- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  63 

vated  that  the  person  attempted  suicide,  and 
on  one  occasion  nearly  effected  it;  the  third 
still  lingers,  the  sufferer  being  a  victim  of 
bodily  disease.  In  the  fourth  there  was  a 
constitutional  wildness  on  other  subjects  than 
that  of  religion;  and  although  his  tempera- 
ment was  sanguine,  his  mind  habitually 
cheerful,  and  his  hope  of  salvation  uncom- 
monly firm,  yet  in  a  moment  of  temptation 
he  was  overcome,  and  destroyed  himself. 
Another,  whom  we  have  known  for  twenty 
years,  and  esteemed  as  a  man  of  more  than 
ordinary  intellect  and  piety,  has  long  been 
subject  to  periods  of  religious  melancholy, 
when  he  suspends  his  business,  loses  all  inte- 
rest in  society,  withdraws  to  his  chamber, 
and  remains  for  weeks  and  months,  until  the 
cloud  of  spiritual  gloom  has  passed;  he  then 
returns  to  his  secular  duties  and  to  the  church, 
as  if  he  had  never  been  otherwise  than  cheer- 
ful and  happy  in  his  religion,  which  is  at  all 
times,  in  sickness  or  health,  his  main  topic  of 
conversation.  No  allusion  is  made  to  the 
past,  there  are  no  inquiries,  and  he  volun- 
teers to  give  no  information;  nor  have  his 
friends  or  physicians  ever  been  able  to  ex- 


64  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

plain  all  the  phenomena  of  this  case  by  any 
of  the  known  doctrines  of  psychology,  phy- 
siology, or  religion.  That  his  melancholy  is 
not  produced  by  his  religion,  would  appear 
from  the  fact,  that  at  all  other  times  it  is  the 
source  of  his  highest  enjoyment.  But  as  it 
regards  the  cause  of  these  periodical  chang6s 
in  his  physical  condition  which  occasion  this 
spiritual  occultation,  we  do  not  hazard  a  con- 
jecture. 

But  this  injurious  influence  on  the  mind 
has  been  ascribed,  not  so  much  to  religion 
in  general,  as  to  certain  forms  or  sectarian 
modes  in  which  it  has  been  expounded,  and 
that  are  slipposed  to  be  peculiarly  adapted 
to  fill  the  soul  with  gloom  and  despondency. 
Hence  the  maxim  so  long  in  vogue  among 
the  Romanists,  "  Spiritus  Calvinianus,  est 
spiritus  melancholicus,"  (so  nearly  English 
that  we  need  not  translate  it.)  Even  Esqui- 
rol  more  than  hints  at  Calvinism  as  in  some 
cases,  the  cause  of  religious  melancholy;  and 
it  is  well  known  that  the  sentiment  wrapped 
up  in  this  calumnious  apothegm,  was  a 
popular  solution  of  the  unhappy  case  of 
Cowper.     Thus^  a  writer   in   the   Encyclo- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  65 

pedia  Britannica  at  that  time,  with  great 
confidence  ascribed  his  mental  malady  to 
the  theory  of  justification  which  he  had 
adopted,  his  natural  disposition  fitting  him 
to  receive  all  the  horrors,  without  the  conso- 
lations of  his  faith.  Babington  Macauley 
also  favours  the  same  opinion,  by  pronounc- 
ing the  religious  teachers  of  the  poet  "  worthy 
of  incineration."  Nor  is  there  any  thing,  we 
are  constrained  to  say,  in  the  over  cautious, 
imperfect,and  disingenuous,  however  interest- 
ing Memoirs  by  Haley,  that  forbids  this  infer- 
ence. And  yet,  it  could  not  but  have  been 
known  by  the  author,or  rathercompilerof  that 
work,  that  the  period  of  his  life  during  which 
he  enjoyed,  together  with  the  unclouded  sun- 
shine of  reason,  the  peace  and  joy  of  re- 
ligion, was  the  interval  from  1764  to  1773, 
when  he  believed  and  openly  professed  every 
article  of  his  faith,  the  effect  of  which  was 
represented  as  afterward  being  so  calami- 
tous. It  was  then  that  his  character  was 
exhibited  in  all  its  attractiveness,  unveiled 
by  any  of  the  mists  that  had  come  over  it 
before,  and  which   gathered   again   toward 


66  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

the  close  of  his  life.  He  was  more  cheerful 
and  affectionate  in  his  intercourse,  partaking 
with  lively  interest  in  the  common  concerns 
of  society,  and  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of 
his  religion ;  and  when  he  became  subse- 
quently the  victim  of  his  afflictive  hallucina- 
tion, he  could  not  avoid  acknowledging  that 
his  gloomy  persuasion  was  at  variance  with 
every  article  of  his  creed,  and  he  was  driven 
to  regard  himself  as  an  inexplicable  excep- 
tion to  his  own  principles.  Religious  truth 
of  any  kind,  had  nothing  to  do  as  a  procuring 
cause  of  Cowper's  malady.  It  was  as  clearly 
a  case  of  hypochondriasis  as  are  those  in- 
stances in  which  the  patient  has  fancied  him- 
self a  "  tea  pot  or  a  sack  of  wool,  or  has  im- 
agined his  thinking  substance  destroyed." 

We  maintain  then,  that  this  unhappy  con- 
dition, which,  without  due  examination,  has 
been  imputed  to  religion,  is  an  effect  pro- 
duced by  physical  causes.  That  a  different 
opinion  should  have  obtained  to  any  ex- 
tent, is  to  be  ascribed  to  misapprehension, 
perhaps  in  part,  but  we  doubt  not  that 
more  frequently,  it  may  be  traced  to  another 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  67 

source,  which  is  thus  noticed  by  Dr.  Cheyne. 
"When  a  man  from  having  been  worldly  be- 
comes religious,  there  is  no  one  against  whom 
prejudice  is  stronger.  No  change  is  less 
agreeable,  not  even  a  change  from  respecta- 
bility of  conduct  to  the  sort  of  profligacy 
which  defies  public  opinion,  than  that  which 
leads  a  man,  whose  previous  motives  were  of 
a  purely  secnlar  kind,  to  make  the  attain- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  God  his  first  object, 
by  which  he  necessarily  rises  in  the  moral 
scale.  That  any  one  formerly  on  our  own 
level  should  take,  or  affect  to  take  higher 
ground,  offends  our  self-love.  It  is  a  con- 
stant rebuke,  by  reminding  us  of  his  supe- 
riority of  principle.  Hence,  it  frequently  hap- 
pens that  when  a  man  really  turns  to  God, 
first  he  is  represented  as  a  hypocrite,  then  a 
fool,  and  last  of  all,  a  madman.  That  his 
motives  and  his  judgment  will  be  arraigned, 
every  neophyte  may  expect,  as  being  matter 
of  uniform  experience;  and  that  madness  is 
a  consequence  of  divine  teaching,  is  a  con- 
clusion which  is  as  old  as  the  days  of  For- 
tius Festus. 


68  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

4.  Another  use  of  this  subject,  and  the  last 
which  we  shall  mention,  is  for  consolation. 

And  for  this  grateful  ministry,  its  scope 
is  as  wide  as  the  office  is  benignant.  As 
may  be  well  presumed,  this  doctrine  of  physi- 
cal influences  is  easily  capable  of  being  per- 
verted. Some  may  mistake  the  buoyancy 
of  animal  spirits  for  the  influences  of  the 
Comforter,  and  others  may  ascribe  the  mo- 
iions  of  sins  which  are  by  the  law,  to  the 
power  of  bodily  disease.  But  it  is  not  in- 
tended by  this  admission  of  the  efl'ect  of 
physical  causes  upon  the  soul,  to  ofl'er  an 
apology  for  sin,  to  furnish  a  convenient  ex- 
cuse for  indolence,  suUenness,  a  cynical  tem- 
per, or  any  other  culpable  dispositions  to 
which  a  man  may  be  constitutionally  prone. 
All  these  may  be  natural,  but  very  criminal 
nevertheless.  The  difl'erence  is  wide  be- 
tween a  neglect  of  prayer  and  watchfulness 
occasioned  by  great  fatigue  in  the  perform- 
ance of  other  duties,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
disciples  in  the  garden,  and  an  omission 
caused  by  giving  way  to  an  inbred  laziness. 
As  a  question  in  morals,  the  point  is  material 
whether  a  man's  hastiness  of  spirit  be  a 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  69 

symptom  of  hepatic  disease,  or  the  habitual 
prompting  of  a  depraved  and  neglected  heart. 
We  are  not  accountable  to  God  for  the  dif- 
ference in  our  complexion  or  in  the  length 
of  our  limbs,  but  he  justly  makes  us  respon- 
sible for  the  envy  and  jealousy  and  malice 
of  our  dispositions. 

To  what  extent,  however,  these  morbid 
exercises  are  moral  and  culpable,  is  perhaps 
the  most  perplexing  inquiry  which  this  whole 
subject  suggests.  That  man  is  answerable 
for  his  conduct  so  long  as  "exaggerated  irri- 
tability stops  short  of  derangement,"  would 
seem  to  be  an  axiom  in  morals;  and  yet 
what  shall  we  understand  by  derangement? 
What  is  that  changed  condition  of  the  man, 
or  how  far  must  it  go,  in  order  to  release 
him  for  the  time  from  the  claims  of  the  moral 
law?  It  has  been  confidently  asserted,  that 
the  feelings  produced  by  nervous  diseases 
are  not  strictly  moral,  nor  are  we  accounta- 
ble for  them  except  as  we  are  accountable 
for  inducing  that  state  of  physical  organiza- 
tion in  which  they  originate. 

And  admitting  this  also  to  be  true,  those 
cases    will    nevertheless   continually    occur 


70  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

which  it  will  occasion  no  little  perplexity  to 
decide.  Moral  qualities,  such  as  pride,  envy, 
jealousy,  covetousness,  &c.,  we  know  are 
hereditary,  as  well  as  those  that  are  intel- 
lectual :  "  Hence  we  often  find,"  says  Dr. 
Rush,  "certain  virtues  and  vices  as  peculiar 
to  families  through  all  their  degrees  of  con- 
sanguinity and  duration,  as  is  a  peculiarity 
of  voice,  complexion,  or  shape.''  But  how- 
ever this  innate  or  transmitted  tendency  to 
certain  kinds  of  evil  may  excite  commisera- 
tion, we  regard  it  not  so  much  as  an  apology 
for  having  yielded  to  the  inclination,  as  a 
cogent  motive  for  continual  vigilance  against 
it.  But  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  with 
which  the  subject  is  embarrassed,  there  is 
nevertheless,  much  in  this  doctrine  of  physi- 
cal influences  for  the  comfort  of  those  whose 
wretched  experience  often  makes  it  so  de- 
sirable. It  is  a  relief  to  find  that  they  were 
in  error  concerning  the  nature  of  their  dis- 
tressing affection;  to  discover  that  what  was 
supposed  to  be  an  infusion  of  Satan,  has 
been  caused,  perhaps  by  a  mistake  in  the 
quality  or  quantity  of  their  food,  or  by 
changes  in  the  atmosphere.     They  see  the 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  71 

danger  of  making  their  feelings  the  test  of 
their  Christian  character,  so  long  as  their 
health  is  impaired.  Indeed  it  is  painful  to 
read  the  diaries  of  many  eminent  believers, 
and  see  how  they  suffered  from  the  imagi- 
nary behef  of  the  withdrawment  of  God's  fa- 
vour, manifested,  as  they  supposed,  by  the 
variable  state  of  their  feelings.  The  grand 
difficulty  in  many  of  these  cases,  lies  in  a 
deranged  condition  of  the  animal  part.  A 
highly  respectable  clergyman,  still  living  in 
New  England,  after  having  preached  with 
much  acceptance  and  success  to  a  congrega- 
tion for  twenty  years,  was  called  to  another 
field  of  labour;  the  change  proving  not  so 
happy  in  all  respects  as  he  had  anticipated, 
his  health  failed,  and  with  it  his  hope.  On 
entering  the  pulpit  one  Sabbath  morning,  he 
sat  for  a  while,  then  arose,  and  instead  of 
commencing  as  usual  the  exercises  of  the 
day,  he  remarked  to  the  people  that  he  had 
been  deceived  in  relation  to  his  personal  re- 
ligion, was  not  worthy  of  the  office  of  a 
preacher,  and  could  not  any  longer  discharge 
it.  A  physician  who  was  present  called  on 
him  afterwards,  and  was  enabled  to  convince 


72  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

him  that  the  cause  of  his  despondency  was 
physical.  In  the  course  of  two  weeks  of 
medical  treatment  it  was  removed,  his  chris- 
tian hope  revived,  he  resumed  his  labours  as 
a  preacher,  and  has  continued  to  perform 
them  ever  since  with  comfort  to  himself  and 
usefulness  to  others. 

So  far  therefore,  as  it  may  be  shown  to  the 
spiritually  depressed  that  their  gloominess  is 
a  symptom  of  disease,  they  may  be  consoled 
by  the  assurance,  that  such  distress  of  their 
soul  is  perfectly  consistent  with  its  regene- 
rate state  and  its  safety.  Let  them  resort 
then  to  such  remedies  as  the  exigencies  of 
the  case  demand,  and  wait  for  relief  to  be 
afforded  through  the  proper  channel. 

The  same  consideration,  moreover,  may 
often  minister  substantial  consolation  in  the 
case  of  departed  friends,  whose  exercises 
have  appeared  more  or  less  ambiguous,  as 
flesh  and  heart  were  failing  under  the  power 
of  disease. 

It  is  an  important  observation  of  Pearson, 
in  his  life  of  Mr.  Hay,  of  Leeds,  that  good 
men  may  be  unreasonably  depressed,  and 
bad  men  elevated,  under  the  near  prospect 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  73 

of  death,  from  the  mere  operation  of  natural 
causes.  The  Saviour's  declaration  makes  it 
fearfully  certain  that  the  judgment  day  will 
reveal  many  disappointments  of  some  re- 
jected, who  died  in  the  confident  hope  of 
salvation;  of  others  received,  who  left  this 
world  in  darkness  and  despair.  How  diffi- 
cult as  well  as  delicate  then,  is  the  task  of 
those  who  undertake  to  compile  the  memoirs 
of  the  pious  from  their  diaries,  or  the  records 
of  their  secret  experience!  How  great  their 
need  of  judgment,  sound  discretion,  and  espe- 
cially of  that  knowledge  of  mental  disorders 
and  morbid  influences,  which  many  of  such 
writers  have  evidently  lacked !  Indeed  we 
are  by  no  means  convinced  that  there  is  not 
virtually  a  breach  of  trust  in  exposing  the 
records  of  Christian  experience,  perhaps 
meant  to  be  secret,  to  the  inspection  of  the 
public.  Such  relations,  moreover,  while  they 
have  not  benefitted  the  pious,  have  been  sub- 
jects of  merriment  to  the  profane. 

That  the  deeply  interesting  biography  of 
Payson  would  have  been  more  valuable  by 
some  omissions,  will  hardly  be  questioned 
by  those  who  regard  the  portions  to  which 


74  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

we  refer,  as  indicative  rather  of  the  state  of 
his  health  than  of  the  condition  of  his  soul. 
And  so  of  the  amiable  poet  of  Olncy,  who, 
through  the  whole  period  of  his  gloomy 
aberrations,  kept  a  journal  of  his  feelings, 
which  was  published  after  his  decease,  in 
spite  of  the  earnest  expostulations  of  his 
more  judicious  friends.  It  was  regarded  by 
them  as  a  heartless  violation  of  the  secrets 
of  the  sepulchre,  as  a  throwing  open  of  the 
closet  of  the  anatomist  to  the  gaze  of  the 
vulgar,  and  a  yielding  to  the  pryings  of  a 
prurient  curiosity,  under  a  pretence  of  cor- 
recting certain  false  notions  of  religion. 

How  few  of  us  would  be  willing  to  sub- 
mit it  to  the  most  discreet  friend  that  might 
survive  us,  to  draw  our  religious  character 
from  what  we  might  write  from  day  to  day 
of  our  religious  exercises,  under  a  full  con- 
viction at  the  time  we  penned  it,  of  its  truth! 
We  say  then,  in  conclusion,  that  while  this 
doctrine  is  never  to  be  used  as  an  excuse 
for  wilful  dehnquency  in  any,  it  may  afford 
effective  consolation  to  the  afflicted  believer 
when  bowed  down  with  infirmities  of  soul 
which  he  cannot  overcome.  If  rightly  under- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  75 

Stood  it  will  tend  not  only  to  minister  relief, 
but  will  make  us  more  watchful  against  sin 
in  all  its  forms,  and  especially  against  that 
to  which  we  have  a  constitutional  bias.  Are 
we  naturally  passionate  and  excitable;  are 
we  envious,  proud,  covetous,  or  jealous,  it 
will  cause  us  to  pray  and  watch  against 
these  besetting  sins  with  peculiar  vigilance  ; 
while  our  numerous  failures  in  this  and 
every  other  duty,  will  make  us  feel  our 
absolute  dependence  on  the  Spirit  both  for 
grace  to  enjoy  our  religion,  and  strength  to 
obey  its  precepts.  Above  all,  it  will  com- 
mend to  our  hearts  that  great  Redeemer 
who  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our 
sorrows.  We  shall  look  away  from  our 
desperate  moral  defilement,  to  that  blood 
which  cleanseth  from  all  sin;  from  our 
weakness  to  his  strength ;  from  our  sins  to  his 
perfect  righteousness.  It  is  but  a  little  while, 
and  he  that  shall  come  ivill  come  and  will 
not  tarry.  The  day  of  our  emancipation  is 
fast  approaching,  when  the  earthly  house  of 
this  tabernacle  will  be  exchanged  for  « 
building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  i?i  the  heavens.     The  spirit 


76  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

shall  no  more  be  iaipeded  by  the  disorders 
of  the  flesh,  but  this  vile  body  shall  be 
fashioned  like  unto  ChrisVs  glorious  body; 
and  then,  as  Cowper  triumphantly  sings,  in 
one  of  his  intervals  of  christian  hope, 

When  that  happy  era  begins, 

And  arrayed  in  his  beauties  we  shine, 

Nor  grieve  any  more  by  our  sins. 
The  bosom  on  which  we  recline, 

Then,  then,  never  more  shall  the  fears, 
The  trials,  temptations  and  woes. 

Which  sadden  this  valley  of  tears. 
Intrude  on  our  blissful  repose. 

Then  the  stroke  that  from  sin  and  from  pain, 

Shall  set  us  eternally  free. 
Will  but  strengthen  and  rivet  the  chain 

That  binds  us,  dear  Saviour,  to  thee. 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  77 


CHAPTER  III. 


'Tie  hard,  in  such  a  strife  of  ruJes,  to  chooae 
The  best. 

Armstrong, 


Having  examined  the  nature  of  physical 
causes,  their  influence  upon  rehgious  expe- 
rience, and  the  uses  of  knowledge,  we  come 
now  to  the  most  important  department  of 
our  subject,  viz:  the  counsels  which  such 
cases  of  suffering  require. 

And  here  we  would  repeat  the  remark, 
that  as  we  are  not  writing  for  medical  men, 
neither  do  we  affect  the  medical  knowledge 
which  is  required  to  do  it  justice  in  all  its 
bearings.  The  most  which  has  been  pro- 
posed and  attempted,  is  to  offer  the  results 
of  some  experience  and  observation  in  prose- 
cuting the  ministry,  rather  than  the  fruits  of 
scientific  research.  Without  much  of  the 
7 


78  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

latter,  it  has  appeared  to  the  writer,  that 
there  is  ample  scope  for  some  profitable  sug- 
gestions, by  which  the  unhappy  condition  of 
many  may  be  reached  and  relieved. 

The  more  conversant  we  become  with  the 
varied  cases  of  spiritual  disquietude,  occur- 
rent  in  our  churches,  the  more  occasion  we 
see  for  all  the  aid  which  may  be  furnished 
by  the  counsels  and  experience  of  others. 
That  this  should  have  been  made  no  more 
frequently  the  subject  of  discussion  by  the 
pen  or  the  pulpit,  is  to  be  ascribed,  not  to  its 
intrinsic  barrenness,  nor  its  want  of  impor- 
tance, as  is  evident  from  the  prominency 
given  it  in  the  older  Enghsh  writers,  but 
the  demand  for  treatises  on  subjects  like  that 
of  our  present  discussion  is  small,  and  for 
the  most  part  restricted  to  those  whose  cases 
are  portrayed,  and  very  often  to  a  smaller 
number  even  than  they.  Sometimes  there 
is  such  an  utter  prostration  of  all  energy,  in- 
tellectual and  moral,  in  the  afflicted  them- 
selves, that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  arrest 
their  attention  even  by  instructions,  which, 
if  heeded,  would  relieve  their  spirits  and 
restore  them  to  cheerfulness. 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPEBIENCE.  79 

"In  perusing  the  memoirs  of  those  who 
have  devoted  themselves  to  God,"  says  Dr. 
Cheyne,  "  nothing  has  appeared  to  us  more 
remarkable  than  their  ignorance  of,  or  inat- 
tention to,  many  of  those  things  which  affect 
their  spiritual  enjoyment;  and  especially  that 
physical  causes  should  be  so  continually  over- 
looked by  those  who  must  be  fully  aware  of 
the  influence  which  the  body  exercises  over 
the  mind,  and  the  mind  over  the  body,  in  all 
men,  but  particularly  in  Christians."  They 
are  habitually  desponding  and  unhappy;  not 
appearing  to  know  how  much  the  pleasura- 
ble emotions  of  the  soul  are  dependent  on 
the  state  of  the  health. 

Non  est  vivere,  sed  valere,  vita. 
Existence  is  not  life,  but  to  be  well. 

To  those,  then,  who  are  perplexed  about 
their  spiritual  state,  and  are  often  fearful  and 
sad,  we  would  say, 

1.  Endeavour,  so  far  as  possible,  to  ascer- 
tain the  true  cause  of  your  doubts  and  spi- 
ritual troubles. 

This  is  Baxter's  prescription.  "  If  you 
should  mistake  in  the  cause,"  says  he,  "  it 


80  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

would  much  frustrate  the  most  excellent 
means  for  cure.  The  very  same  doubts  and 
complaints  may  come  from  several  causes  in 
several  persons,  and  therefore  admit  not  of 
the  same  way  of  cure.  Sometimes  the  cause 
begins  in  the  body,  and  thence  proceedeth  to 
the  mind ;  sometimes  it  begins  in  the  mind, 
and  thence  distempereth  the  body.  Again, 
it  proceedeth  from  worldly  crosses,  or  scruples 
upon  points  of  religious  doctrine,  decays  of 
inward  grace,  or,  as  it  was  with  David,  from 
the  deep  wounds  of  some  scandalous  sin. 
Which  of  these  is  your  own  case,  you  must 
be  careful  to  find  out,  and  apply  the  means 
for  cure  accordingly.  And  if,  upon  close  and 
careful  examination,  it  prove  like  Achan's 
fraud,  to  be  some  latent  sin,  then  relief  can 
only  come  (as  it  infallibly  will  come,)  by 
putting  it  away.  If  the  cause  be  found  in 
the  state  of  your  health,  then  acquit  your 
soul  from  all  that  part  of  your  disquietness 
which  proceeds  from  this  source;  remember- 
ing in  all  your  self-examinations,  self-judg- 
ings,  and  reflections  on  your  heart,  that  it  is 
not  directly  to  be  charged  with  those  sorrows 
that  come  from  your  spleen,  save  only  re- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  81 

motely,  as  all  other  diseases  are  the  fruits  of 
sin,  as  a  lethargic  dullness  is  the  deserved 
fruit  of  sin  ;  but  he  that  should  charge  it  im- 
mediately on  his  soul,  would  wrong  himself, 
and  he  that  would  attempt  the  cure,  must  do 
it  on  the  body." 

It  is  admitted  that  such  counsel  as  this  is  at- 
tended with  more  or  less  danger  ;  that  it  may 
encourage  presumption  in  some,  and  thus 
lead  them  to  heal  the  hurt  of  their  spirit  too 
slightly  and  hastily,  by  resolving  it  into  a 
cause  over  which  they  have  no  control,  and 
for  which  they  are  not  accountable.  It  is 
hoped,  however,  that  the  subject  has  been  suf- 
ficiently guarded  against  this  perversion,  by 
what  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
Unhappily,  however,  as  has  also  been  inti- 
mated before,  many  of  those  who  need  such 
instructions,  are  too  dejected  and  inert  to  be 
aroused  to  make  any  serious  and  persevering 
inquiry  after  the  source  of  their  despondency. 
"  To  reason  with  a  man  against  the  views  which 
arise  from  melancholy,''  says  Dr.  Alexander, 
^'is  commonly  as  inefficacious  as  reasoning 
against  bodily  pain.  I  have  long  made  this 
a  criterion,  to  ascertain  whether  the  dejection 


82  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

experienced  was  owing  to  a  physical  cause ; 
for  in  that  case,  argument,  though  demon- 
strative, had  no  effect/'  Very  many  are  pre- 
disposed to  take  it  for  granted  that  their 
gloom  proceeds  from  a  culpable  cause,  what- 
ever it  may  be ;  that  the  more  they  should 
investigate  the  painful  subject,  the  more  they 
would  discover  to  convince  them  that  they 
were  deceiving  themselves,  and  that  they 
had  never  been  spiritually  changed.  But 
let  no  professor  of  reUgion  in  his  senses  ever 
be  tempted  to  dispose  of  his  own  case  in  this 
precipitate  and  summary  way.  To  give  in- 
dulgence to  such  a  lethargic  ease,  while  in 
doubt  about  his  salvation,  is  evidence  of  a 
sort  of  hallucination,  which,  instead  of  im- 
pairing his  responsibility,  greatly  increases 
both  his  danger  and  his  guilt.  Let  the  in- 
quiry into  his  own  personal  state,  then,  be 
pursued  diligently,  until  he  come  to  a  satis- 
factory conclusion ;  let  him  persevere  under 
a  persuasion  of  the  ineffable  importance  of 
the  duty,  as  involving  all  that  is  desirable  or 
fearful  in  the  disclosures  of  eternity. 

2.  Our  second  counsel  to  those  who  are 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  83 

thus  afflicted,  is  to  avail  themselves  of  judi- 
cious medical  advice. 

We  refer  in  this  direction  more  particularly 
to  those  whose  state  of  doubting  and  dark- 
ness has  been  long  continued.  As  in  the 
case  of  Dr.  Rush,  the  cause  may  exist  in  a 
morbid  condition  of  the  body,  without  being 
even  suspected  by  themselves.  To  those 
whose  trouble  proceeds  from  this  source, 
says  Baxter  again,  "expect  not  that  rational 
or  spiritual  remedies  should  suffice  for  your 
cure,  any  more  than  that  a  good  sermon  or 
comfortable  words  should  cure  the  falling 
sickness,  or  palsy,  or  a  broken  head;  for  your 
melancholy  fears  are  as  really  a  bodily  disease 
as  the  other,  only  because  these  work  on  the 
spirits  and  fantasy,  on  which  words  of  advice 
do  also  work  to  a  certain  extent;  therefore 
such  words,  and  Scripture  and  reason  may 
somewhat  resist  it,  and  may  palliate  and 
allay  some  of  the  effects  at  the  present,  but 
as  soon  as  time  hath  worn  off  the  force  and 
effects  of  these  reasons,  the  distemper  pre- 
sently returns." 

As  the  cause  therefore  is  in  the  animal 
part,  it  must  be  reached,  if  at  all,  by  reme- 


84  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

dies  which  it  comes  more  within  the  province 
of  the  medical  than  the  spiritual  counsellor 
to  prescribe.  But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that 
not  every  physician,  how  skilful  soever,  and 
learned,  and  successful  in  his  general  prac- 
tice, is  qualified  to  instruct  the  description  of 
patients  whom  these  remarks  contemplate. 
Such,  however,  has  been  the  change  of  late 
years  in  the  character  of  diseases,  and  espe- 
cially so  great  has  been  the  increase  of  those 
by  which  the  mind  and  spiritual  affections 
are  disturbed,  that  cases  of  this  sort  are  better 
imderstood,  and  the  number  of  competent 
advisers  among  the  faculty  is  much  greater 
than  it  was  formerly.  It  is  an  interesting 
fact,  which  is  not  generally  known,  that  a 
large  proportion  of  our  more  serious  ailments 
fall  within  the  category  to  which  we  now 
refer. 

Near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
Sydenham  estimated  fevers  to  constitute,  at 
that  time,  two-thirds  of  the  diseases  of  man- 
kind. About  seventy  years  afterwards.  Dr. 
Cheyne  made  nervous  disorders  about  one- 
third  of  the  complaints  of  the  higher  class  in 
England.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  S5 

century,  Trotter  supposed  them  to  constitute 
full  two-thirds  of  all  those  which  afflict  civi- 
hzed  society.  And  a  later  writer  still  ex- 
presses the  opinion  that  even  Trotter's  esti- 
mate falls  below  the  truth. 

We  do  not  pretend  to  decide  as  to  the 
comparative  accuracy  of  these  computations. 
It  is  enough  to  say,  that  the  lowest  is  suffi- 
ciently great  to  appal,  and  also  to  show,  that 
no  department  of  the  healing  art  claims  more 
earnestly  the  attention  of  physicians  than  this. 
If  the  connexion  between  the  mind  and  body 
be  so  intimate  as  has  been  shown,  the  rea- 
sonableness of  this  resort  for  medical  advice 
would  be  obvious,  even  if  its  practical  value 
had  not  been  tested  by  common  experience. 
How  often  have  we  known  a  morbid  condi- 
tion of  the  mind  or  spirits  to  be  as  speedily 
and  as  effectually  removed  by  the  operation 
of  a  drug  as  a  pain  in  the  head.  That  pee- 
vishness, impatience,  and  irritability  which 
make  one  intolerable  to  himself  as  well  as  to 
others,  we  see  daily  relieved  by  the  same 
simple  agency  as  by  the  power  of  magic; 
and  hence  '-'our  domestic  happiness  often 
depends  on  the  state  of  the  biliary  and  di- 
8 


86  INFLUENCE  OE    PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

gestive  organs;  and  the  little  disturbances  of 
conjugal  life,  may  sometimes  be  more  effica- 
ciously cured  by  the  physician  than  by  the 
moralist;  for  a  sermon  or  homily  misapplied 
will  never  act  so  directly  as  a  sharp  medi- 
cine/^ 

A  physician  in  this  city  was  recently  in- 
vited to  visit  a  lady  enjoying  apparent  health, 
living  in  affluence,  and  surrounded  with  every 
thing  which  wealth  and  elevated  condition, 
and  affectionate  friends  could  confer  to  ren- 
der her  happy;  yet  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  she 
felt  indescribably  wretched,  and  sent  for  her 
medical  adviser  to  explain  the  cause.  It  was 
a  case  of  plethoric  tendency,  which  called 
for  depletion.  A  moderate  bleeding  afforded 
relief,  and  in  a  very  few  days  she  was  re- 
stored to  her  former  cheerfulness. 

Dryden,  whose  mind,  notwithstanding  its 
capacity  for  elevated  and  brilliant  concep- 
tions was  sometimes  turbid  and  dull,  well 
knew  the  utility  of  medical  expedients  as 
auxiliary  to  thought.  "When  I  have  a  grand 
design  before  me,"  says  he,  "I  ever  take 
physic  and  let  blood;  for  when  you  would 
have  pure  swiftness  of  thought  and  fiery 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  87 

flights  of  fancy,  you  must  have  a  care  of 
the  pensive  part,  and  for  this,  get  help  from 
the  apothecary."  Descartes,  the  philosopher, 
went  farther  still,  and  asserted  that  if  any 
means  can  be  found  to  render  men  wiser  and 
more  ingenious  than  they  have  been  hitherto, 
such  a  method  must  be  sought  from  the  assist- 
ance of  medicine:  and  Plutarch, speaking  of 
the  reaction  of  the  mind  upon  the  body  as 
the  cause  of  those  injuries  which  it  requires 
medicine  to  repair,  very  playfully  observes, 
that  "should  the  body  sue  the  mind  before 
a  court  of  judicature  for  damages,  it  would 
be  found  that  the  mind  had  proved  to  be  a 
ruinous  tenant  to  its  landlord." 

None,  we  trust,  will  infer  from  what  has 
thus  been  said  of  medical  assistance,  that  we 
approve  of  that  habitual  tampering  with 
drugs  which  is  so  common  with  the  nervous 
valetudinarian,  by  which  he  only  makes  his 
malady  the  worse. 

Exuperat  magis,  sBgrescitque  medendo. 
The  disease  is  aggravated  by  the  means  used  to  cure  it. 

But  it  is  to  discourage  all  this  private  em- 
piricism, by  directing  the  sufferer  away  from 


SS  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

these  experiments  upon  himself,  to  the  well 
taught  physician,  that  more  competent  coun- 
sellor, who  has  been  designated  by  Provi- 
dence. 

3.  Another  important  auxiliary  to  the 
desponding  Christian,  is  suitable  society — 
habitual  intercourse  with  others,  and  espe- 
cially the  devout,  who  possess  a  happier 
temperament. 


Whatever  cheerful  and  serene 


Supports  the  mind,  supports  the  body  too. 

The  influence  of  sympathy,  its  operation 
for  both  evil  and  good,  is  famiUarly  known. 
"We  are  all,"  says  Locke,  "a  kind  of  cha- 
meleon, who  take  a  moral  tinge  from  the 
objects  which  surround  us."  The  manifesta- 
tion of  fear  or  of  confidence  and  self-posses- 
sion in  a  time  of  danger,  inspires  a  corres- 
ponding emotion  in  those  who  behold  it. 
The  story  of  Caesar  and  the  affrighted  mari- 
ners, will  occur  as  a  striking  illustration  ;  and 
how  we  all  assimilate  in  character  as  well  as 
in  manners  to  those  with  whom  we  associ- 
ate, is  a  fact  of  daily  observation.  Hence 
the  salutary  effect  of  a  cheerful,  sanguine 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  89 

Christian,  upon  those  who  are  prone  to  mel- 
ancholy. *ds  iron  sharpeneth  iron,  so  a 
man  sharpeneth  the  countenance  of  his 
friend.  His  society  is  exhilarating,  like  the 
wine  prescribed  by  Solomon  to  those  that  be 
of  heavy  hearts.  An  interview  with  those 
of  their  own  morbid  tendencies  may  be 
advantageous  sometimes,  by  correcting  the 
usual  mistake  of  such  believers,  that  their 
case  is  peculiar,  or  has  certain  unfavourable 
characteristics,  by  which  it  is  placed  without 
the  reach  of  the  ordinary  means  of  relief.  A 
comparison  of  exercises  and  sentiments,  is 
often  productive  of  good  in  showing  that 
their  condition  is  not  so  singular  as  they  had 
imagined.  From  the  prevailing  lack  of  sym- 
pathy with  which  such  sufferers  meet,  many 
prefer  to  hide  their  sorrows  in  their  own 
bosom,  to  the  risk  of  opening  their  heart  to 
those  who  could  poorly  appreciate  an  expe- 
rience so  foreign  to  their  own.  Thus  the  late 
Captain  Benjamin  Wickes,  of  Philadelphia, 
concealed  his  long  and  oppressive  melancholy 
for  nearly  twenty  years,  until  it  was  dis- 
covered by  that  devoted  servant  of  Christ, 
INIr.  Joseph  Eastburn,  whose    affectionate 


90  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

conversation  and  judicious  counsels,  were 
the  means  of  affording  immediate  relief. 

How  far  the  distressing  symptoms  of  Cow- 
per's  malady  were  mitigated  by  the  delight- 
ful society  of  the  Unwins,  is  easily  inferred 
from  his  memoirs ;  nor  are  any  of  us  so  im- 
perturbable in  our  spiritual  temperament,  as 
not  to  be  more  or  less  lifted  up  or  depressed 
by  the  joy  or  sadness  of  those  Christian 
friends  with  whom  we  mingle.  And  hence 
one  of  four  cardinal  rules  which  the  eminent 
casuist  already  quoted,  has  given  to  melan- 
choly Christians,  is  to  "keep  company  with 
the  more  cheerful  sort  of  the  godly;  converse 
with  men  of  the  strongest  faith,  that  have 
much  of  the  heavenly  mirth  of  believers, 
which  faith  doth  fetch  from  the  blood  of 
Christ  and  from  the  promises  of  his  word, 
and  who  can  speak  experimentally  of  the  joy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  these  will  be  a  great 
help  to  the  reviving  of  your  spirit  and  chang- 
ing your  melancholy  habit,  so  far  as  without 
a  physician  it  may  be  expected."  On  the 
other  hand,  decline,  so  far  as  practicable,  the 
society  of  the  gloomy  and  disconsolate.  Their 
sorrowful  spirit,  like   an  evil  distemper,  is 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  91 

contagious,  and  your  influence  upon  eacli 
other  will  be  reciprocally  prejudicial. 

Oderunt  hilarem  tristes,  tristemque  jocosi. 

The  grave  dislike  the  cheerful,  and  the  merry  hate  the 
grave. 

Some  physiologists  contend  that  laughter, 
as  one  of  the  greatest  aids  to  digestion,  is 
highly  conducive  to  health,  and  therefore 
Hufeland,  physician  to  the  king  of  Prussia, 
commends  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  who 
maintained  a  jester  that  was  always  present 
at  their  meals,  "whose  quips  and  cranks 
would  keep  the  table  in  a  roar." 

Solomon's  opinion  of  the  beneficial  effect 
of  cheerfulness  is  easily  inferred,  not  only 
from  the  manner  in  which  he  commends  it, 
but  the  frequency.  "A  merry  heart,"  says 
he,  "doeth  good  like  a  medicine,  but  a 
broken  spirit  drieth  the  bones."  Or,  as  it  is 
better  rendered  perhaps,  in  the  old  transla- 
tion, "A  joyful  heart  causeth  good  health; 
but  a  sorrowful  mind  drieth  the  bones." 

4.  A  fourth  counsel,  of  incalculable  value 
to  those  who  would  enjoy  spiritual  comfort, 
is  to  he  temperate. 


92         INFLTJENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

We  refer  not  merely  to  the  total  disuse 
of  alcoholic  drinks  and  intoxicating  drugs, 
which  will  be  presumed,  of  course,  but  to 
that  habitual  control  over  every  appetite 
which  will  keep  us  within  the  limits  that 
are  prescribed  by  both  reason  and  health. 

Learn  temperance,  friends ;  and  hear  without  disdain 
The  choice  of  water.    Thus  the  Coan  sage* 
Opin'd,  and  thus  the  learned  of  every  school. 

It  does  not  properly  fall  within  the  scope 
of  the  writer  to  furnish  such  details,  as 
would  be  expected  in  a  dietetical  treatise, 
and  which  would  come  with  more  authority 
from  an  experienced  physician.  Burton,  in 
his  most  extraordinary  work  called  the  Anat- 
omy of  Melancholy,  has  given  a  curious  dis- 
quisition on  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  different 
kinds  of  food,  and  of  their  comparative  ten- 
dency to  nurture  certain  pleasant  or  painful 
affections  of  the  mind,  as  well  as  animal  pro- 
pensities; but  like  many  of  the  opinions  of 
this  eccentric  writer,  it  is  to  be  received  with 
some  material  abatements.  Dr.  Rush,  how- 
ever, asserts  that  the  effects  of  diet  upon  the 
moral  faculty  are  more  certain,  though  less 

*  Hippocrates. 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  93 

attended  to,  than  the  effects  of  cUmate ;  that 
the  quaUty,  as  well  as  the  quantity  of  the 
aliment,  has  its  influence ;  and  that  pride, 
cruelty,  and  sensuality,  are  as  much  the  natu- 
ral consequences  of  luxurious  living,  as  are 
apoplexies  and  palsies.  Fulness  of  bread, 
we  are  told,  was  one  of  the  predisposing 
causes  of  the  vices  of  the  cities  of  the  plain. 
He  concurs  too,  with  Dr.  Paris  and  other 
eminent  medical  writers,  both  foreign  and 
domestic,  in  reprobating  the  too  free  use  of 
animal  food  by  persons  of  sedentary  habits, 
which  not  only  predisposes  to  inflammatory 
diseases,  but  has  a  sensible  influence  on  the 
morals.  Dr.  McNish,  of  Glasgow,  quotes 
with  approbation  another  opinion  of  Hufe- 
land,  that  ^'  infants  who  are  accustomed  to 
eat  much  animal  food  become  robust,  but  at 
the  same  time  passionate,  violent,  and  bru- 
tal." Moreover,  the  efficacy  of  a  vegetable 
diet  upon  the  passions,  was  verified  in  the 
practice  of  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  who  assures  us 
that  he  cured  several  patients  of  irascible 
tempers,  by  nothing  but  the  prescription  of 
a  simple  vegetable  regimen.  Some  devout 
persons,  like  Payson,  have  erred  on  the  side 


94  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

of  excessive  abstinence ;  which  his  biogra- 
pher pronounces  to  have  been  the  great  mis- 
take of  his  Ufe.  To  what  extremes  others 
have  been  carried  under  the  influence  of 
superstition,  to  mortify  the  body  for  the  sins 
of  the  soul,  is  familiar  to  all  who  are  con- 
versant with  the  history  of  Asceticism ;  but 
the  more  common  and  dangerous  error  by 
far,  is  the  opposite,  or  that  of  indulging  the 
appetite  too  freely.  Thus  Dr.  Combe  reas- 
serts with  special  approbation,  the  published 
opinion  of  a  distinguished  American  physi- 
cian, that  intemperate  eating  is  almost  a  uni- 
versal fault ;  that  it  is  begun  in  the  cradle, 
and  continued  till  we  go  down  to  the  grave; 
that  it  is  far  more  common  than  intempe- 
rance in  drinking ;  and  the  aggregate  of  mis- 
chief that  it  does,  is  greater. 

Plures  crapula,  quam  gladius. 
Gluttony  kills  more  than  the  sword. 

'•For  every  reehng  drunkard  that  dis- 
graces our  country,  it  contains  one  hundred 
persons  who  eat  to  excess  and  sufter  by  the 
practice."  Baglivi,  a  celebrated  Roman  phy- 
sician, mentions  that  in  Italy  an  unusually 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  95 

large  proportion  of  the  sick  recovered  during 
Lent,  in  consequence  of  the  lower  diet  which 
is  then  observed  as  part  of  the  religious 
duties  of  the  season. 

Let  the  whole  subject  of  dietetic  economy 
then,  be  carefully  regarded  by  those  who  are 
subject  to  spiritual  and  nervous  depression ; 
and  while  the  conflicting  opinions  of  the 
faculty  on  the  subject  of  diet  or  regimen, 
will  abundantly  show  how  "doctors  disa- 
gree ;"  yet  they  are,  nevertheless,  replete  with 
suggestions  of  the  highest  practical  value. 
It  need  hardly  be  remarked,  that  indepen- 
dent of  the  influence  on  the  animal  spirits 
and  health,  yet  as  prescribed  by  Christian 
morality,  the  appetites  should  be  kept  under 
habitual  control.  The  spiritual  man  should 
learn,  with  the  apostle  Paul,  to  keep  his  body 
under.  He  should  live  in  that  elevated  state 
of  communion  with  God,  that  he  will  not 
be  tempted  to  descend  from  the  higher  and 
purer  enjoyments  of  his  religion,  to  seek 
happiness  in  the  gratifications  of  the  epicu- 
rean and  sensualist.  But  how  far  it  is  lawful 
to  indulge  a  healthful  appetite  at  his  table 
from  day  to  day,  is  a  question  of  morals 


96  INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

which  cannot  be  settled  for  a  christian  by 
any  of  the  rules  of  medical  science  or  physi- 
ology. Put  a  knife  to  thy  throaty  says 
Solomon,  z/ Mow  be  a  man  given  to  appe- 
tite. Restrain  thyself  as  if  excess  or  reple- 
tion were  death.  But  what  may  be  re- 
ceived as  at  once  the  fruit  of  experience  and 
the  dictate  of  science,  has  been  expressed  in 
the  measures  of  a  writer  not  less  gifted  with 
poetic  genius  than  with  medical  knowledge; 

beyond  the  sense 


Of  light  refection,  at  the  genial  board 
Indulge  not  often,  nor  protract  the  feast 
To  dull  satiety. 

Dr.  Holland's  three  rules  are:  1.  "Not  to 
eat  so  much  nor  so  long,  as  to  cause  a  sense 
of  uneasy  repletion.  2.  The  rate  of  eating 
always  to  be  so  slow  as  to  allow  thorough 
mastication.  3.  Use  no  urgent  exercise, 
either  of  body  or  mind,  immediately  after  a 
full  meal.  Rules,"  he  remarks,  "whose  sim- 
plicity and  familiarity  may  lessen  their  seem- 
ing value,  yet  in  practice  they  will  be  found 
to  include,  directly  or  indirectly,  a  great  pro- 
portion of  the  cases  that  come  before  the 
faculty  for  treatment.''     To  these,  however, 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  97 

he  virtually  adds  a  fourth,  in  a  subsequent 
paragraph,  in  which  he  earnestly  dehorts 
from  the  pernicious  habit  of  directing  the 
attention  after  eating  to  the  region  of  the 
stomach,  as  tending  greatly  to  disturb  the 
process  of  digestion. 

It  is  said,  in  the  Life  of  President  Edwards, 
that  although  of  an  infirm  constitution  and 
indifferent  health,  yet  he  was  able  to  spend 
thirteen  hours  daily  in  his  study.  This  sur- 
prising power  of  endurance  is  explained  in 
the  succeeding  paragraph,  in  which  we  read 
that  he  carefully  observed  the  effects  of  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  food,  and  selected  those  which 
best  fitted  him  for  mental  labour.  Having 
also  ascertained  the  quantity  of  food  which, 
while  it  sustained  his  bodily  strength  left  his 
mind  most  sprightly  and  active,  he  scrupu- 
lously confined  himself  within  the  prescribed 
limits.  But  not  to  dwell  in  details  that  are 
so  accessible  in  elaborate  treatises  on  this 
very  subject,  and  that  are  deservedly  held  in 
the  highest  repute,  we  will  only  add,  that  the 
substance  of  what  we  have  designed  to  say 
in  the  preceding  remarks,  is  comprehended 


98         INFLUENCE  OP  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

in  an  old  Latin  distich,  by  whom  composed 
we  do  not  recollect ; 

Si  tibi  deficiant  medici,  medici  tibi  fiant 

HoBC  tria:  mens  hilaris,  requics,  moderata  dioeta, 

which  one  has  paraphrased  in  the  following 
clumsy  couplet: 

Employ  three  physicians ;  first  Doctor  Diet, 
Then  Doctor  Merryman,  with  Doctor  Quiet. 

5.  Another  counsel  to  be  heeded  with  spe- 
cial care  by  the  desponding,  is  to  be  habi- 
tually occupied. 

We  refer  not  to  bodily  exercise  merely, 
which  is  so  essential  to  vigorous  health,  and 
to  a  lively  flow  of  the  animal  spirits,  but  we 
speak  of  occupation  for  the  mind,  in  con- 
nexion with  some  useful  employment,  to 
save  it  from  those  morbid  actings  by  which 
it  is  made  the  prey  to  its  own  energies.  Who- 
ever has  noticed  the  amazing  power  of  the 
thoughts  in  disturbing  the  functions  of  the 
body,  will  accord  with  the  poet,  that 

'Tis  the  great  art  of  life  to  manage  well 
The  restless  mind. 

This  is  none  the  less  true  in  relation  to 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  99 

religious  men  than  to  others.  "There  are 
many,"  says  Cecil,  "who  sit  at  home,  nurs- 
ing themselves  over  a  fire,  and  then  trace  up 
the  natural  effects  of  solitude,  and  want  of 
air  and  exercise,  into  spiritual  desertion.  But 
this  is  to  confound  nature  and  grace,  and  to 
make  a  sort  of  mystery  of  that  which  is 
readily  connected  with  a  natural  cause." 
Now  and  then  we  find  one  who  appears  to 
be  happy  in  a  sort  of  quietism,  or  cloistered 
piety,  which  rather  shuns  than  seeks  commu- 
nion with  what  is  without.  How  it  will  be 
in  the  world  to  come,  we  do  not  pretend  to 
say;  but  it  has  never  been  found  in  this,  that 
they  are  the  happiest  in  religion  who  with- 
draw from  all  active  occupation,  and  spend 
their  whole  time  in  devout  contemplations. 
No  man,  it  has  been  said,  is  ever  more  reli- 
gious for  having  his  mind  constantly  occu- 
pied with  religion.  This  may  seem  a  para- 
dox, but  those  who  know  how  little  necessary 
connexion  there  is  between  theological  stu- 
dies and  spirituality  of  mind,  and  how  much 
a  professional  familiarity  with  such  subjects 
tends  to  deteriorate  their  influence,  will 
readily  subscribe  to  the  truth  of  the  asser- 


100       INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL   CAUSES 

tion.  Although  the  truly  pious  man  can 
have  but  one  dominant  motive,  the  glory 
of  God,  yet  the  active  powers  of  the  mind 
will  find  useful  and  pleasant  exercise  in  a 
thousand  different  ways  of  promoting  it. 
To  be  engaged  in  doing  good  then,  is  alike 
needful  to  the  happiness  of  the  spiritual  man 
and  to  his  health. 

Under  a  former  head,  we  quoted  one  of 
four  rules  for  the  relief  of  melancholy  Chris- 
tians, and  here  we  add  another  from  the 
same  author,  viz;  "to  avoid  idleness  and 
want  of  employment;  which,  as  it  is  a  life 
not  pleasing  to  God,  so  it  is  the  opportunity 
for  melancholy  thoughts  to  be  working,  and 
the  chiefest  season  for  Satan  to  tempt  us." 
It  has  often  been  observed  in  relation  to 
clergymen  who  have  been  laborious  and  use- 
ful, that  they  ill  endure  a  change  to  leisure 
from  the  occupation  of  a  pastoral  charge ; 
but  that  in  their  sine  titulo  condition,  they 
are  apt  to  become  either  nervous  and  low- 
spirited,  or  turn  to  doing  harm. 

We  were  struck  with  a  remark  of  Dr. 
Green,  many  years  ago,  on  his  retirement 
from  Princeton,  "that  he  did  not  know  whe- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  101 

ther  hereafter  he  should  do  much  good;  but 
he  was  resolved,  if  possible,  to  avoid  doing 
mischief,  which  was  more  than  was  apt  to 
be  true  of  many  of  his  brethren  in  similar 
circumstances." 

To  brood  over  our  spiritual  maladies, 
watching  from  day  to  day  our  changing 
frames,  will  no  more  help  to  attain  a  better 
spiritual  condition,  than  the  fingering  of  his 
pulse,  or  examining  the  tongue  by  the  victim 
of  dyspepsia  will  conduce  to  his  more  health- 
ful digestion.  In  either  case,  the  less  he 
thinks  of  himself  the  better;  and  the  only 
effectual  expedient  for  diverting  his  thoughts 
will  be  found  in  some  pleasant  and  useful 
occupation.  Such  was  the  relief  which  Cow- 
per  derived  from  his  labour  in  translating 
Homer;  and  to  find  an  antidote  to  his  dis- 
tressing melancholy  was  supposed  to  be  Dr. 
Johnson's  main  inducement  for  proposing, 
towards  the  close  of  his  life,  to  publish  a 
translation  of  Thuanus. 

"Were  I  asked,"  says  a  well  known  wri- 
ter, "upon  what  circumstance  the  preven- 
tion of  low  spirits  chiefly  depended,  I  should 
borrow  the  ancient  orator's  mode  of  en- 
9 


102        INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

forcing  the  leading  principle  of  his  art^  and 
reply — employment,  employment,  emjoloy- 
ment.  This  is  the  grand  panacea  for  the 
tsedium  vitae,  and  all  the  train  of  fancied 
evils  which  prove  so  much  more  insupport- 
able than  real  ones.  It  is  a  medicine  that  may- 
be presented  in  a  thousand  forms,  all  equally- 
efficacious.'^ 

We  remember  the  case  of  a  fellow  student 
in  our  theological  course  whose  mind  was 
so  disquieted  with  fears  about  his  spiritual 
condition,  that  it  became  a  serious  question 
whether  he  should  not  renounce  the  hope  of 
entering  the  ministry;  but  upon  a  statement 
of  his  case  to  one  of  his  teachers,  he  was  ad- 
vised to  discontinue  his  examinations  of  him- 
self for  a  season,  take  it  for  granted,  if  he 
pleased,  that  his  state  was  as  bad  as  he  feared, 
but  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  case  of  others, 
pray  more  for  them,  and  resolve  to  do  all  in 
his  power  for  their  salvation.  This  counsel 
was  received,  and  was  followed  with  the 
happiest  results.  His  mind  was  gradually 
relieved,  his  spirits  became  buoyant  and 
cheerful,  and  after  finishing  his  studies,  he 
entered  the  sacred  profession  with  a  joyful 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  103 

hope  of  his  calling  and  salvation,  which  con- 
tinued to  the  end  of  his  life.  We  would  say, 
then,  to  every  troubled  believer,  copy  his  ex- 
ample. Let  not  an  elevated  condition  in  life, 
and  wealth,  if  you  have  them,  tempt  you  to 
be  idle.  If  not  required  to  toil  for  your  daily 
bread,  yet  let  a  regard  for  your  happiness 
and  health,  and  the  monitions  of  conscience, 
make  you  as  industrious  as  if  you  were. 
Consider  your  affluence  and  leisure  as  talents, 
by  means  of  which  you  have  the  enviable 
opportunity  of  promoting  the  welfare  of 
others,  gratuitously,  in  a  thousand  modes, 
which  are  forbidden  to  others.  Go  join  your- 
self to  the  most  active  benefactors  of  society; 
enter  their  ranks,  or  plant  yourself  in  the 
van.  Take  your  full  share  in  the  labours  of 
the  Sunday  school  or  Bible  class  teacher,  the 
distribution  of  tracts,  the  visiting  of  the  poor 
and  sick,  and  afflicted.  Deny  yourself  many 
gratifications  of  ease,  and  pleasure,  and  ad- 
vantage for  the  sake  of  redeeming  the  time 
and  the  means  of  doing  more  good.  Aim 
directly,  like  Harlan  Page,  at  the  single  ob- 
ject of  saving  men's  souls;  and  whether  your 
success  shall  correspond  to  your  wishes  or 


104       INFLUENCE  OF   PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

not,  you  shall  enjoy  the  reflex  advantage  of 
your  benevolence.  In  watering  others,  you 
shall  be  watered  yourself. 

We  are  aware  of  the  difficulty,  of  comply- 
ing with  this  counsel,  in  many  cases,  and 
none  are  more  peculiarly  trying  than  those 
of  clergymen,  who,  from  declining  health, 
advancing  age,  or  some  untoward  events, 
have  been  dislodged  from  posts  of  active  use- 
fulness, and  have  now  nothing  to  do  which 
is  suited  to  their  character,  capacity,  and  cir- 
cumstances. Such,  it  is  well  known,  is  often 
the  unhappy  condition  of  some  of  the  most 
useful,  as  well  as  respectable  and  venerable 
ministers  of  the  church;  and  it  is  one  of  the 
ominous  signs  of  the  times,  that  their  num- 
ber seems  to  be  increasing.  From  the  emolu- 
ments of  their  calling,  few  derive  more  than 
the  means  for  a  very  frugal  maintenance  of 
their  family,  and  therefore,  when  by  reason 
of  age  and  multiplied  infirmities,  the  grass- 
hopper has  become  a  burden^  they  find  su- 
peradded to  all  their  afiiictions  the  trials  of 
poverty.  We  will  not  enlarge ;  but  for  our- 
selves, we  are  constrained  to  say,  that  we 
feel  it  to  be  a  material  defect  in  our  eccle- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  105 

siastical  economy,  that  their  condition  and 
claims  are  not  more  particularly  and  tenderly 
regarded;  that  in  view  of  the  resources  and 
benevolence  of  the  church,  something  has  not 
been  projected  at  least,  if  not  carried  into 
effect,  by  which  such  an  important  casus 
omissus  should  have  been  provided  for, 
some  feasible  plan  by  which  their  remaining 
strength,  their  stores  of  learning  and  expe- 
rience, may  be  turned  to  a  profitable  ac- 
count, and  these  Mnasons  of  the  ministry 
made  happy  and  useful  during  the  remnant 
of  their  pilgrimage. 

Lastly:  Let  the  depressed  and  desponding 
look  habitually  to  Christ. 

A  counsel,  the  most  important,  as  it  is  the 
most  comprehensive  of  all  that  have  been 
offered.  Look  to  Him  continually  for  his 
ascension  gift,  the  Comforter,  to  purify  from 
sin,  to  help  in  overcoming  the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devil.  Without  me  ye  can 
do  nothing,  says  the  Saviour;  and  through 
Christ  strengthening  me,  says  his  great 
apostle,  /  can  do  all  things.  And  while 
you  pray  habitually  for  yourself,  seek  an  in- 
terest in  the  prayers  of  others.    It  is  believed 


106       INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

that  the  restoration  of  Ihe  Rev.  Mr.  Rogers, 
already  referred  to  in  a  former  chapter,  was 
ill  answer  to  the  special  prayers  of  his  pious 
friends  and  brethren  in  the  ministry,  many  of 
whom  were  most  earnest  and  importunate  in 
their  intercessions,  till  at  length  his  mind  was 
completely  relieved.  He  has  left  a  monu- 
ment of  his  deliverance  from  his  awful  thral- 
dom, in  a  book  well  worthy  of  the  perusal  of 
those  who  suffer  under  spiritual  distress,  from 
physical,  or  any  other  causes.  But  the  pre- 
vailing temptation  of  Christians  of  this  tem- 
perament is  to  look  to  themselves,  to  watch 
their  own  fluctuating  frames,  canvass  their 
motives  and  conduct,  as  if  they  expected  to 
find  the  living  among  the  dead.  As  if  the 
Israelite  in  the  wilderness,  bitten  of  the  fiery 
serpent,  had  depended,  for  his  recovery  upon 
his  former  temperance,  or  the  strength  of  his 
constitution,  and  not  upon  looking  to  the 
brazen  image.  Such  reviews  of  the  past  and 
searchings  of  heart,  are  not  only  proper,  but 
they  are  exceedingly  important  in  many  re- 
spects, but  not  for  spiritual  comfort,  in  dis- 
tress, nor  for  aid  to  arrive  at  assurance. 
To  look  back,  as  one  observes,  is  more  than 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  107 

we  can  sustain  without  going  back.  Indeed 
the  better  the  Christian,  the  more  spiritually 
minded  and  holy,  the  more  does  he  usually 
discover  to  cause  sorrow,  and  the  keenest 
self-reproach,  whenever  he  takes  a  retros- 
pect of  his  past  life  and  experience.  For 
many  years,  we  are  told,  that  even  Baxter 
was  in  great  perplexity  about  himself,  for 
reasons  which  have  been  a  common  occasion 
of  doubting  among  serious  inquirers  in  every 
age  of  the  church:  It  was  because  he  could 
not  trace  so  distinctly  the  workings  of  the  Spirit 
on  his  heart,  as  they  were  described  in  some 
practical  writers  to  whom  he  was  directed  for 
instruction,  and  he  could  not  ascertain  the 
time  of  his  conversion.  Because  he  felt  great 
hardness  of  heart ;  supposed  himself  to  be 
religious  from  early  education  rather  than 
conviction  of  the  Spirit;  to  be  influenced 
more  by  fear  than  by  love;  and  because  his 
grief  and  humiliation  on  account  of  sin  were 
not  greater.  But  he  was  afterwards  satisfied 
that  these  were  not  suflicient  nor  scriptural 
grounds  for  doubting  his  personal  interest  in 
the  salvation  of  Christ.  Upon  which  Orme, 
his  accomplished  biographer,  remarks,  that 


108       INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

persons  who  are  agitated  with  perplexities 
similar  to  those  of  Baxter,  are  frequently 
directed  to  means  little  calculated  to  afford 
relief.  It  is  very  questionable  whether  any 
individual  will  ever  obtain  comfort  by  making 
himself,  or  the  evidences  of  personal  religion, 
the  object  of  chief  attention.  All  hope  to  the 
guilty  creature  is  exterior  to  himself.  In  the 
human  character,  even  under  Christian  influ- 
ence, sufficient  reason  for  condemnation,  and 
therefore  for  fear,  will  always  be  found.  It 
is  not  thinking  of  the  disease,  nor  of  the  mode 
in  which  the  remedy  operates,  nor  of  the  de- 
scription given  of  these  things  by  others,  but 
using  the  remedy  itself  that  will  effect  the 
cure.  The  gospel  is  the  heavenly  appointed 
balsam  for  all  the  wounds  of  sin,  and  Jesus 
is  the  great  Physician;  it  is  to  him,  and  to 
his  testimony,  therefore,  as  the  revelation  of 
pardon  and  healing,  that  the  soul  must  be 
directed  in  all  the  stages  of  its  spiritual  ca- 
reer. When  the  glory  of  his  character  and 
work  is  seen,  darkness  of  mind  will  be  dis- 
sipated, the  power  of  sin  will  be  broken, 
genuine  contrition  will  be  felt,  and  joy  and 
hope  will  fill  the  mind.     It  is  from  the  Sa- 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  109 

viour  and  his  sacrifice  that  all  proper  excite- 
ment ill  religion  must  proceed ;  and  the  at- 
tempt to  produce  that  excitement  by  the 
workings  of  the  mind  on  itself,  must  inevita- 
bly fail.  Self-examination  to  discover  the 
power  of  truth  and  the  progress  of  principle 
in  us,  is  highly  important;  but  when  em- 
ployed with  a  view  to  obtain  comfort  under 
a  sense  of  guilt,  it  never  can  succeed.  No- 
thing but  renewed  application  to  the  cross 
can  produce  the  latter  effect. 

These  sentiments  are  so  important  that 
they  cannot  be  repeated  too  often,  nor  be  too 
deeply  impressed  upon  all,  and  especially 
upon  every  inquirer  after  an  assurance  of 
hope.  They  describe  the  only  way  by  which 
the  perplexed  believer,  even  when  released 
from  the  embarrassment  of  physical  influ- 
ences, can  obtain  a  solid  and  permanent 
peace.  It  is  by  looking  to  Christ,  not  as  holy 
in  ourselves,  but  in  order  to  be  made  holy ;  not 
as  the  "whole,"  whose  distempers  have  been 
cured  already,  but  as  the  "sick"  who  must  be 
cured  by  him  alone  or  perish.  We  must  go 
to  him,  feeling  that  we  owe  him  ten  thousand 
times  more  than  we  can  pay ;  but  that  all  he 
10 


110        INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES 

requires  of  us  is  to  accept  a  discharge,  and 
be  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  unmerited 
grace.  In  other  words,  we  are  only  to  exalt 
our  glorious  Redeemer  to  his  true  position  as 
both  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith, 
the  alpha  and  omega  in  our  salvation,  and 
our  peace  is  secured.  Those  very  views  of 
ourselves,  our  self-reproach  and  feeling  of  ill 
desert,  which  have  caused  so  much  disquiet, 
then  become  the  evidences  of  that  spiritual 
change  which  is  the  beginning  of  everlasting 
life.  We  repeat,  then,  the  monition,  in  the 
midst  of  distracting  cares  and  temptations, 
which  so  much  hinder  the  exercise  of  this 
faith,  let  us  not  forget  the  promised  help  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Let  us  watch  against  the 
common  sin  of  the  desponding,  who  under- 
value his  aid,  and  practically  question  its 
reality,  when  we  are  taught,  not  only  that 
he  helpeth  our  infirmities^  but  that  he  mak- 
eth  intercession  for  us  with  groanings  which 
cannot  be  uttered. 

To  know  that  we  are  Christians  does  not 
imply  that  we  are  free  from  sin,  but  that  we 
are  united  to  Christ.  Our  peace,  and  joy, 
and  hope,  the  fruits  of  this  union,  need  not 


ON  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE.  Ill 

be  destroyed  by  our  imperfections,  however 
great,  while  we  chug  to  Him  as  our  right- 
eousness. "If  we  see  ourselves  bad  enough 
for  Christ,"  says  Thomas  Adam,  "he  sees  us 
good  enough."  His  people  are  safe,  not- 
withstanding their  doubts  and  fears,  not  be- 
cause of  any  inherent  power  in  them  to  hold 
on  to  the  end,  but  because  of  the  grace  which 
reigns  in  their  calUng  and  redemption,  in  view 
of  which  he  has  said,  he  will  never  leave 
them  nor  forsake  them. 

The  soul  on  his  bosom  that  leans  for  repose, 
Is  safe  from  the  assaults  of  its  bitterest  foes: 
Tliat  soul,  tho'  all  hell  should  its  vengeance  awake, 
He'll  never,  no  never,  no  never  forsake. 

It  is  certainly  among  the  deep  mysteries  of 
Providence,  that  some  of  the  most  eminent 
saints  who  have  ever  lived,  should  have  been 
afflicted  with  despondency  and  gloom;  and 
yet,  as  pious  Rutherford  remarks,  "as  nights 
and  shadows  are  good  for  flowers,  and  moon- 
light and  dews  better  than  a  continued  sun,  so 
is  Christ's  absence  of  special  use,  and  it  hath 
some  nourishing  virtue  in  it,  and  givelh  sap 
to  humility,  and  furnisheth  a  fair  field  for 
faith." 


112  INFLUENCE  OF  PHYSICAL  CAUSES,  ETC. 

It  has  also  been  suggested,  by  way  of  ex- 
planation, that  these  sufferings  are  designed 
to  enhance  the  joys  of  heaven  by  contrast; 
that  these  hght  afflictions  which  are  but  for 
a  moment,  will  tend  to  work  for  us  a  far 
inore  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory, 
"  Two  sorts  of  people,"  said  Dr.  Watts, 
"will  be  disappointed  when  they  get  to 
heaven :  the  melancholy  Christian  to  find 
himself  there,  and  the  censorious  Christian 
to  find  others  there."  But  what  can  be 
deep  or  mysterious  in  Providence,  or  hard 
for  us  to  believe,  when  we  have  once  re- 
ceived that  amazing  doctrine  of  grace,  the 
great  central  truth  of  revelation,  that  God  so 
loved  the  world  as  to  give  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  ivhosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life? 


113 


APPENDIX 


The  cases,  by  which  the  subject  of  this  little 
volume  is  exemplified,  are  so  numerous  and 
accessible,  that  it  would  be  easy  to  adduce 
them  to  almost  any  extent.  It  is  thought  that 
the  purposes  of  the  book  would  be  promoted 
by  an  appendix,  containing  the  selection  of 
a  few. 

In  reading  the  experience  of  others,  when 
sketched  by  a  skilful  hand,  the  afflicted  often 
find  instruction  made  more  attractive  and  in- 
telligible, than  in  treatises,  however  elabo- 
rate, that  are,  in  their  form,  more  abstract 
and  didactic. 

The  following  is  from  a  well  written  essay 
on  Religious  Melancholy,  by  the  Rev.  M.  B. 
Hope,  M.  D.,  whose  knowledge  of  medicine 
and  physiology,  superadded  to  his  theological 
acquisitions,  and  deep  Christian  experience, 
affords  pecuUar  quahfications  for  speaking 


114  APPENDIX. 

with  authority  on  such  topics  as  we  have 
discussed.  It  is  given  for  the  purpose  of 
exhibiting  a  sample  of  cases  of  great  diffi- 
culty as  well  as  interest,  where  there  is  a 
manifest  disorder  of  the  religious  views  and 
affections,  and  often  great  mental  distress, 
while  yet,  they  are  not  commonly  regarded 
as  cases  of  disease  at  all.  It  is  the  instance 
of  a  young  lady,  who  had  been  long  and 
intimately  known  to  the  writer,  who  was 
"of  a  temperament  highly  nervous  and  san- 
guine, and  embarked  very  young,  with  all 
her  ardour,  in  the  gay  pleasures  of  fashion- 
able life.  A  single  season  convinced  her 
fully  of  their  emptiness  and  folly.  She  was 
soon  after  brought  under  the  influence  of 
pungent  preaching,  and  convinced  of  sin. 
The  struggle  was  sharp  and  long;  but  the 
result  was,  that  she  gave  herself,  with  all  her 
heart,  to  a  course  of  rigid  religious  duties. 
Above  all,  she  seemed  to  live  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  prayer.  Her  faith  in  the  truth  and 
promises  of  God,  was  without  the  shadow  of 
a  cloud.  And  yet  she  had  not  the  pure  en- 
joyment which  she  supposed  to  be  the  neces- 
sary fruit  of  real  piety.  She  did  not,  therefore, 


APPENDIX.  115 

look  upon  herself,  as  a  child  of  God;  and  her 
consequent  anxiety  wore  upon  her  spirit,  and 
secretly  undermined  her  health.  At  length, 
one  day,  as  she  rose  from  prayer,  the  thought 
struck  her  like  a  thunder-bolt,  *  what  if  there 
is  no  God  after  all.'  She  repelled  the  thought 
with  horror,  and  went  her  way.  But  the 
shock  had  struck  from  her  hand,  ^  the  shield 
of  faith,'  and  all  her  efforts  were  unable  to 
grasp  it  again.  From  henceforth  she  found 
herself  exposed  to  a  constant  shower  of  darts, 
fiery  and  poisoned,  and  she  could  not  resist 
them.  They  stuck  fast  in  her  vitals,  and  drank 
up  her  spirits.  The  poison  thus  injected 
into  the  heart  of  her  religious  experience 
soon  spread,  and  blighted  the  whole.  She 
never  knew  a  moment's  peace,  when  her 
thoughts  were  upon  her  once  favourite,  and 
still  engrossing  subject.  She  called  herself 
an  infidel,  and  applied  to  herself  the  dreadful 
threatenings  and  doom  of  the  unbeliever. 
And  yet  it  was  evident  she  was  not,  in  any 
sense,  an  unbeliever.  She  was  one  of  the 
most  devout  and  consistent  persons  we  ever 
knew.  She  was  conscientious  even  to  scru- 
pulosity.    She  was  a  most  devoted  and  faith- 


116  APPENDIX. 

fill  Sunday  school  teacher,  and  God  blessed 
her  labours  to  the  conversion  of  nearly  all 
her  scholars.  She  rejoiced  to  hear  of  persons 
becoming  Christians,  and  would  often  say, 
with  despair  in  her  tones,  how  she  envied 
them.  When  any  of  her  acquaintances  died 
without  giving  good  evidence  of  piety  she 
became  excited,  and  as  she  expressed  it,  was 
ready  to  scream  aloud.  She  gave  every 
possible  evidence  that  she  had  not,  in  reality, 
a  shadow  of  a  doubt  about  the  truth  of  reve- 
lation. And  yet  no  one  ever  dreamed  that 
her  difficulties  were  connected  with  disease 
of  any  sort;  for  her  mind  was  remarkably 
clear,  and  active.  The  advice  of  pious 
friends  and  ministers,  therefore,  based  upon 
the  supposition  that  her  case  was  one  of 
spiritual  darkness,  or  satanic  temptation,  was 
to  persevere  in  prayer — to  struggle  on  more 
earnestly,  and  God  would  give  her  light  after 
he  had  tried  her  faith  and  patience  and  love. 
But  the  more  she  prayed  and  struggled,  the 
worse  she  grew.  She  would  come  from  her 
closet,  exhausted  with  the  fearful  conflict, 
and  looking  ready  to  sink  into  utter  despair. 
The  Sabbath  was  always  the  worst  day  of 


APPENDIX.  117 

the  week;  and  the  labour  and  exhaustion  of 
teaching  aggravated  her  symptoms. 

*'  The  only  treatment  which  was  success- 
ful, in  this  case,  would  by  many  have  been 
rejected  with  horror.  She  was  advised  to 
give  up  the  struggle  which  she  had  main- 
tained so  unequally,  and  which  would  only 
have  resulted  in  disastrous  consequences — to 
think  as  little  as  possible  on  the  subject — to 
spend  less  time  in  devotional  exercises,  and 
allow  her  mind  to  gather  its  scattered  strength 
by  relaxation.  The  form  of  prayer  advised 
was  short  and  audible,  and  such  as  took  for 
granted  what  she  had  been  struggling  to  con- 
vince herself  of.  Incessant  pains  were  taken 
to  present  the  character  of  God  in  a  simple, 
affectionate,  parental  light,  when  any  thing 
led  to  the  subject.  The  simplicity  of  faith, 
and  the  certainty  of  salvation,  were  occa- 
sionally flashed  across  her  mind,  when  it  was 
in  a  suitable  frame.  The  only  two  evidences 
of  piety  which  her  state  of  mind  rendered 
available,  were  kept  prominent  as  the  basis 
of  new  feelings  and  hopes,  viz:  her  love  to 
the  people  of  God,  and  the  pain  she  felt  in 
the  absence  of  divine  favour,  and  the  longing 


118  APPENDIX. 

for  its  return.  These  were  untouched  by  the 
dismal  monster  that  had  preyed  upon  her 
hopes. 

"  By  a  judicious  perseverance  in  a  course 
like  this,  accompanied  with  well  directed  hy- 
gienic measures,  suitable  recreation,  exercise, 
and  diet,  for  improving  her  general  health, 
and  especially  the  tone  of  her  nervous  system, 
the  mental  energies  began  to  react,  and  new 
views  of  truth  and  new  hopes  sprung  up  in 
her  mind.'^ 

Another  case,  furnished  by  the  same,  and 
adduced  for  the  sake  of  showing  the  efficacy 
of  judicious  medical  treatment,  is  that  of  "a 
lady,  whose  state  of  mind  had  baffled  every 
attempt  made  by  her  judicious  husband,  to 
bring  her  relief.  She  was  a  woman  of  great 
refinement  and  strength  of  mind,  eminently 
pious,  and  devoted  to  her  interesting  young 
family,  whose  education  she  conducted  her- 
self. While  conferring  every  accomplish- 
ment upon  her  children,  she  was  mainly 
anxious  for  their  spiritual  welfare.  When 
we  saw  her,  she  was  intensely  excited,  and 
had  slept  little  for  several  nights.     She  said 


APPENDIX.  119 

she  had  lost  all  interest  in  the  instruction  of 
her  children,  and  had  become  utterly  regard- 
less of  their  personal  appearance  and  her 
own.  Her  whole  thoughts  and  feelings  were 
engrossed  about  their  salvation,  her  anxiety 
for  which  had  become  insupportably  ago- 
nizing. When  instructing,  or  dressing,  or 
leading  them  out  for  their  accustomed  exer- 
cise, she  was  incessantly  distracted  with  the 
thought,  what  good  will  all  this  do,  while 
they  are  still  impenitent!  Though  her 
flushed  face  and  flashing  restless  eye,  indi- 
cated strong  physical  excitement,  yet  her 
mind  was  so  clear  on  every  subject,  and  all 
her  views  so  rational,  that  we  attributed  the 
whole  difficulty  to  excessive  and  protracted 
anxiety,  for  an  object  of  peculiar  interest  to 
a  pious  mother — the  salvation  of  her  children. 
We  made  repeated  attempts  to  reason  with 
heron  the  error  and  evils  of  her  present  state 
of  mind.  She  admitted  fully  the  justice  of 
our  reasoning,  and  concurred  in  the  truth  of 
all  our  positions,  but  we  found  that  this  was 
of  no  avail.  Her  excitement  continued,  and 
with  it  her  distress,  and  all  her  difficulties. 
It  appeared  like  a  case  of  pure  religious  ex- 


120  APPENDIX. 

citement,  and  was  so  looked  upon  by  all  her 
family.  They  did  not  deem  her  deranged, 
but  it  was  evident  she  soon  would  be,  unless 
relieved.  Finding  reasoning  of  no  avail,  and 
the  excitement  still  increasing,  we  became 
convinced  on  minute  examination,  that  the 
whole  difficulty  originated,  not  in  religious 
views  or  feelings  at  all,  but  in  a  morbid  in- 
crease of  arterial  action,  arising  from  some 
physical  cause.  One-twelfth  of  a  grain  of 
tartar  emetic,  five  or  six  times  a  day,  gave 
perfect  relief,  and  restored  both  her  views 
and  feelings  to  the  healthy  standard." 

Another  case,  for  which  we  are  indebted 
to  a  correspondent,  will  show  the  effect  of 
disease  in  misguiding  the  conscience.  It  is 
that  of  a  young  man  of  fervent  piety,  who  is 
at  this  time  preparing  for  the  ministry;  but 
in  such  a  state,  as  to  be  wholly  unable  to 
pursue  his  studies.  For  several  years  he  has 
felt  himself  urged  and  almost  coerced,  as  he 
says,  to  make  various  vows  to  God,  pro- 
mising to  spend  so  many  hours  a  day  in  de- 
votional exercises,  and  to  keep  days  of  fasting 
and  prayer  on   various   accounts.       These 


APPENDIX.  121 

VOWS  have  become  so  burdensome,  as  to  in- 
terfere with  his  duty  as  well  as  with  his 
peace.  He  has  forgotten  some  of  the  reasons 
for  these  vows,  and  now  he  feels  himself 
solemnly  bound  by  his  vow,  but  knows  not 
what  to  do  to  fulfil  it ;  and  some  of  the  occa- 
sions on  which  days  of  fasting  were  vowed  to 
be  kept,  have  passed,  and  his  vow  not  fulfilled. 
He  is  kept  awake  a  great  part  of  the  night, 
and  is  incapable  of  study.  "I  endeavoured," 
says  my  informant,  "  to  show  him,  in  what 
cases  vows  were  not  binding,  and  flattered 
myself  that  I  had  relieved  his  mind,  but  in  a 
few  days  he  came  back,  and  I  went  over  the 
whole  again ;  but  all  to  little  purpose.  And  by 
this  it  may  be  commonly  known,  that  the 
disease  is  physical,  when  the  clearest  reason- 
ing and  admitted  conclusions  produce  no 
effect." 

"Some  time  since,"  says  the  same  cor- 
respondent, "  I  was  consulted  respecting  the 
case  of  a  young  man,  who  had  vowed  that 
he  would  never  taste  butter — but  as  this  en- 
tered into  so  many  kinds  of  food,  he  was 
kept   in  continual  perplexity.     This,  how- 


122  APPENDIX. 

ever,  seems  to  have  been  merely  a  device  of 
Satan." 

"There  is  now  a  pious  and  useful  pastor  in 
the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  who,  when  pur- 
suing his  theological  studies,  resolved  or 
vowed,  against  so  many  kinds  of  food,  be- 
cause they  were  gratifying  to  his  palate,  that 
he  actually  was  suffering  for  want  of  nutri- 
tive food." 

The  error  of  hastily  ascribing  religious 
melancholy  to  the  direct  agency  or  influence 
of  religion,  is  exposed  in  the  account  given 
of  a  patient  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  in 
1842,  by  Dr.  Kirkbride,  physician  to  the  in- 
stitution. 

"A  young  man  of  very  moderate  mental 
capacity,  little  education,  and  accustomed  to 
a  laborious  occupation,  from  too  much  con- 
finement at  his  business,  finds  his  health  fail- 
ing, and  gives  up  his  employment  for  a  few 
months  to  recruit.  At  the  end  of  that  time, 
although  not  well,  he  is  able  to  return  to 
work,  but  then  discovers  that  the  changes  in 
the  times  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  find 


APPENDIX.  123 

any  thing  to  do.  His  means  being  exhausted, 
his  body  weak,  without  his  customary  exer- 
cise, his  mind  gradually  becomes  in  a  morbid 
state,  when  some  excitement  from  Miller's 
prophecy  occurring  in  his  neighbourhood,  he 
immediately  attempts  to  study  the  subject, 
and  to  ascertain  its  truth  from  close  reading 
of  the  Bible — an  investigation  utterly  un- 
suited  for  his  capacity  under  any  circum- 
stances— and  the  difficulties  he  encounters  at 
the  very  threshhold,  lead  to  a  violent  attack 
of  mania.  The  disease  was  attributed  to 
' Miner's  prophecy,'  or  to  'religious  excite- 
ment,' but  neither  of  these  causes  would  give 
a  proper  idea  of  the  origin  of  the  case.  Be- 
fore being  excited  on  that  subject,  the  pa- 
tient's mind  was  ready  to  be  overturned  by 
any  abstruse  or  exciting  matter  that  might 
be  presented  to  it.  Without  his  loss  of  em- 
ployment this  would  not  have  occurred,  and 
whhout  the  enfeebled  health  which  accom- 
panied it,  his  attempted  investigation  might 
have  been  harmless." 

In  the  fourth  chapter  of  Dr.  Alexander's 
Thoughts  on  Rehgious  Experience,  will  be 


124  APPENDIX. 

found,  among  many  wise  counsels  to  persons 
subject  to  spiritual  depression,  some  very- 
striking  examples,  interspersed  with  judi- 
cious remarks.  The  importance  of  special 
watchfulness  and  prayer  against  the  invasion 
of  melancholy  in  the  decline  of  life,  espe- 
cially when  the  tendency  is  constitutional, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  cases  of  two  per- 
sons who  were  overwhelmed  with  this  mal- 
ady at  last,  though  as  far  from  it  in  early 
life  as  any  that  the  writer  ever  knew. 

"The  first  was  a  man  of  extraordinary 
talents,  and  eloquence;  bold  and  decisive  in 
his  temper,  and  fond  of  company  and  good 
cheer.  When  about  fifty-five  or  six  years 
of  age,  without  any  external  cause  to  pro- 
duce the  effect,  his  spirits  began  to  sink,  and 
feelings  of  melancholy  to  seize  upon  him. 
He  avoided  company, but  I  had  frequent  occa- 
sion to  see  him,  and  sometimes  he  could  be 
engaged  in  conversation,  when  he  could 
speak  as  judiciously  as  before;  but  he  soon 
reverted  to  his  dark  melancholy  mood.  On 
one  occasion  he  mentioned  his  case  to  me, 
and  observed  with  emphasis,  that  he  had  no 
power  whatever  to  resist  the  disease,  and 


APPENDIX.  125 

said  he,  with  despair  in  his  countenance,  ^  I 
shall  soon  be  utterly  overwhelmed.'  And 
so  it  turned  out,  for  the  disease  advanced 
until  it  ended  in  the  worst  form  of  mania, 
and  soon  terminated  his  life.  The  other  was 
the  case  of  a  gentleman  who  had  held  office 
in  the  American  army,  in  the  revolutionary 
war.  About  the  same  age,  or  a  little  later, 
he  lost  his  cheerfulness,  which  had  never 
been  interrupted  before,  and  by  degrees, 
sunk  into  a  most  deplorable  state  of  melan- 
choly, which  as  in  the  former  case,  soon 
ended  in  death.  In  this  case,  the  first  thing 
which  I  noticed,  was,  a  morbid  sensibility  of 
the  moral  sense,  which  filled  him  with  re- 
morse, for  acts,  which  had  little  or  no  moral 
turpitude  attached  to  them." 

"  The  late  excellent  and  venerable  James 
Hall,  D.  D.  of  North  Carolina,  was  of  a  mel- 
ancholy temperament;  and,  after  finishing 
his  education  at  Princeton,  he  fell  into  a 
gloomy  dejection,  which  interrupted  his 
studies  and  labours  for  more  than  a  year. 
After  his  restoration,  he  laboured  success- 
fully and  comfortably  in  the  ministry  for 
11 


126  APPENDIX. 

many  years,  even  to  old  age;  but  at  last 
was  overtaken  again,  and  entirely  over- 
whelmed by  this  terrible  malady.  Of  all 
men,  that  I  ever  saw,  he  had  the  tenderest 
sympathy  with  persons  labouring  under  re- 
ligious despondency.  When  on  a  journey,  I 
have  known  him  to  travel  miles  out  of  his 
way  to  converse  with  a  sufferer  of  this  kind; 
and  his  manner  was  most  tender  and  affec- 
tionate in  speaking  to  such." 

The  mistake  of  imputing  to  satanic  agency 
what  is  dependent  on  bodily  disease,  is  ex- 
hibited by  Dr.  Cheyne  in  the  case  of  the  wife 
of  the  Rev.  John  Newton,  who  was  unable 
to  leave  the  house  for  nearly  two  years  be- 
fore she  died,  in  1790.  In  the  beginning  of 
October,  she  was  confined  to  her  bed,  and 
was  soon  after  deprived  of  all  locomotive 
power.  In  this  state,  distress  arose  in  her 
mind,  which  applied  to  the  whole  system  of 
truth,  and  she  said,  "If  there  be  a  Saviour," 
"If  there  be  a  God;"  and  in  this  condition 
continued  for  a  fortnight,  when  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  her  doubts  were  removed. 
Mr.  Newton  accounted  for  his  wife's  tern- 


APPENDIX.  127 

porary  unbelief,  by  referring  it  to  the  influ- 
ence of  Satan.  "Mrs.  Newton's,  however, 
was  a  case  of  palsy — depending,  as  was  sup- 
posed, upon  a  disease  of  the  brain,  by  which 
her  faith,  the  foundation  of  her  religion,  was 
disturbed,  while  her  afl'ections  were  unin- 
jured." 

It  is  well  known  that  Bunyan  was  griev- 
ously harassed  at  times  with  what  he  be- 
lieved to  be  Satanic  temptations  to  the  worst 
species  of  evil;  and  that  Luther  also  sup- 
posed himself,  on  one  occasion  at  least,  to 
have  been  assaulted  by  the  devil.  But  with 
regard  to  certain  phenomena  which  it  is  com- 
mon to  refer  to  his  influence,  such  as  "  unbid- 
den and  repulsive  thoughts  and  feelings,  and 
false  perceptions,  both  voices  and  visions," 
says  the  Essay  already  quoted,  "that  they 
may  be  produced  by  mere  morbid  physi- 
cal agency,  is  unquestionable;  because  they 
are  frequent  accompaniments  of  pure  dis- 
ease, and  yield  with  the  disease  to  medical 
treatment.  Those,  therefore,  who  are  called 
to  counsel  persons  thus  afflicted,  should  never 
lose  sight  of  the  inquiry  whether  such  may 


128  APPENDIX. 

not  be  the  actual  origin  of  what  otherwise 
might  be  treated  as  temptations  of  the  devil. 
That  Satan  may  have  the  power  of  injecting 
his  malicious  or  blasphemous  suggestions  im- 
mediately into  the  mind,  we  have  not  in- 
tended at  all  to  controvert.  But  we  are  dis- 
posed to  adopt  the  principle  of  Dr.  Cheyne; 
that  ^  if  an  appeal  to  Him  who  conquered 
Satan  and  who  will  aid  all  who  come  to 
him  in  faith,  fails  to  relieve  those  who  are 
thus  afflicted,  they  may  rest  assured,  that 
disease  and  not  the  devil  is  the  enemy  with 
which  they  have  to  contend,'  and  they  must 
seek  relief  accordingly. 

"And  if  we  are  pressed  beyond  this  point, 
with  the  hypothesis  that  while  disease  may 
be  the  proximate  cause  of  these  distressing 
and  horrible  calamities,  yet  Satan  may  be 
the  agent  who  employs  this  instrumentality 
to  harass  the  Christian,  we  should  be  inclined 
to  fall  back  upon  the  ground  thus  quaintly 
maintained  by  Richard  Baxter:  *if  it  were 
as  some  fancy,  a  possession  of  the  devil,  it 
is  possible  that  physic  might  cast  him  out. 
For  if  you  cure  the  melancholy,  (black  bile,) 
his  bed  is  taken  away,  and  the  advantage 


APPENDIX.  129 

gone  by  which  he  worketh;  cure  the  choler 
(bile)  and  the  choleric  operations  of  the  devil 
will  cease :  it  is  by  means  and  humours  in 
us,  that  he  worketh.'  '' 

Repeated  allusions  have  been  made  in  the 
preceding  work  to  the  subject  of  tempera- 
merits^  by  which  are  meant  "  the  differences 
that  are  observed  between  men,  and  which 
are  dependent  upon  the  relative  predomi- 
nance of  each  of  their  organic  systems." 

A  certain  French  writer,  has  designated 
these  predominances  by  the  term  idiosyn- 
crasies, which  "  depend  constantly  on  the 
manner,  altogether  inexplicable,  in  which  our 
organs  of  relation  are  affected  by  their  modi- 
fiers." It  would  be  easy  to  adduce  from  the 
records  of  Pathological  Physiology,  many 
curious  and  instructive  examples. 

"Some  persons,  it  is  well  known,  cannot 
digest  certain  aliments,  unless  they  are  taken 
at  fixed  hours,  or  prepared  in  a  peculiar 
manner;  we  see  some  who  never  drink  when 
they  are  in  health ;  others,  who  can  digest 
only  in  a  certain  posture."  The  writer  was 
lately  informed  of  a  lady,  now  living  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  who  has  enjoyed  compa- 


130  APPENDIX. 

rative  health  and  bodily  comfort,  with  habi- 
tual cheerfulness,  for  more  than  five  and 
twenty  years,  while  lying  on  her  back.  Her 
appetite  is  good,  her  food  causes  no  uneasi- 
ness, her  digestive  organs  appear  to  be  in  a 
healthful  condition,  and  she  seems  to  be  per- 
fectly well  so  long  as  she  remains  in  her  re- 
cumbent posture.  But  on  attempting  to 
stand  or  even  to  sit  erect,  she  is  involuntarily 
seized  with  vomiting,  which  nothing  has 
been  able  to  arrest,  until  she  returns  to  her 
former  position.  Broussais  mentions  a  lady, 
in  whom  the  odour  of  a  linseed  poultice  pro- 
duced the  most  violent  suffocation,  and  if  she 
could  not  escape  from  it,  she  was  attacked 
with  a  stinging  erysipelas  m  the  face.  A 
Prussian  captain,  whom  he  saw  in  Paris,  in 
1815,  could  not  bear  the  sight  of  a  cat,  a 
thimble,  or  an  old  woman,  without  being 
convulsed  and  making  shocking  grimaces. 
The  surviving  friends  of  the  late  Dr.  Blatch- 
ford,  of  Lansingburgh,  New  York,  will  re- 
member his  instinctive  and  invincible  aver- 
sion to  the  cat.  Many  persons  have  a  dread 
of  a  particular  animal,  as  of  a  mouse,  a 
spider  or  a  toad;  some  faint  at  the  sight  of  a 
rose,  the  odour  of  which  is  so  delightful  to 


APPENDIX.  131 

most.  Such  are  the  phenomena  that  are 
designated  by  the  term  idiosyncrasy;  and 
which  we  have  represented  as  among  the 
physical  causes,  by  which  the  moral  as  well 
as  intellectual  part  in  man  is  more  or  less 
affected. 

As  reference  has  been  made  in  the  fore- 
going tract  to  certain  writers  on  the  subject, 
or  on  others  akin  to  it,  the  names  of  a  few 
are  appended  for  the  guidance  of  any  who 
may  have  the  leisure  and  inclination  to  read 
them. 

In  addition  to  those  already  named  or 
quoted,  we  would  mention  Pritchard,  Pinel, 
Prout ;  Voison  on  the  Moral  and  Physical 
Causes  of  Mental  Maladies ;  Tissot  on  the 
Health  of  Men  of  Letters;  Hitchcock's  Lec- 
tures on  Diet,  Regimen,  and  Employment ; 
Shepard's  Sincere  Convert,  and  Robe  on  Re- 
ligious Melancholy.  IMost  of  these  writers, 
of  course,  view  the  subject,  of  which  they 
treat,  as  philosophers,  or  men  of  science.  But 
those  who  have  access  to  the  older  English 
divines,  will  find  that  questions  of  casuistry, 
spiritual  troubles,  evidences  of  grace,  &c.,  are 
discussed  with  great  ability,  and  are  made 
far  more  prominent  and  important  in  them 


132  APPENDIX. 

than  they  are  in  the  theological  writers  of 
times  more  modern.  The  writings  on  this 
subject,  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Rogers,  to 
whom  we  have  repeatedly  referred,  are 
peculiarly  instructive  to  persons  labouring 
under  spiritual  distress,  as  having  been  dic- 
tated by  his  ovvn  experience.  The  substance 
of  his  discourse  on  "  Trouble  of  Mind,  and 
the  Disease  of  Melancholy,"  is  given  in  Dr. 
Alexander's  book  already  mentioned,  which 
we  would  commend  to  the  attention  of  those 
•who  have  not  access  to  the  original  work, 
which  is  owned  in  this  country  but  by  few. 
There  are  numerous  treatises,  both  medi- 
cal and  religious,  on  the  subject,  which  are 
more  or  less  valuable;  but  '^a  clear,  tho- 
rough, and  scientific  exposition  of  what  are 
popularly  termed  cases  of  religious  melan- 
choly, and  in  a  form  suited  to  general  use, 
and  adapted  to  throw  light  upon  their  true 
character  and  method  of  treatment,  would 
be  an  invaluable  addition  to  our  literature.'' 


THE    END. 


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